Meet the Team
Partner and Head of Sheffield Family Law Team
Emma is the Head of our Sheffield Family Law Team.
She has extensive experience supporting clients with all aspects of family law. She has proficiency in advising on the financial aspects of relationship breakdown including pre and post nuptial agreements, financial settlements following divorce, cohabitating and separation agreements and disputes in relation to arrangements for children. Emma also has expertise in dealing with pension assets on divorce, particularly Armed Forces and other public sector pensions.
She is regularly instructed in complex divorce cases representing land owners with farming and landed estates, owners of property portfolios, family business owners and complex family trusts. Emma is a confident advocate, regularly representing clients in Court and is also a Resolution trained Mediator, assisting those who wish to resolve disputes away from Court.
Notable cases in which Emma has represented clients:
- Advised the husband in a divorce involving a family business valued at £30m, with High Court proceedings involving substantial UK and overseas assets.
- Advised the wife in a farming divorce with assets valued at £2.5m, a case involving third party intervenors, civil proceedings in relation to a farming dispute and enforcement issues.
- Succeeded in obtaining an order that a concluded agreement existed when a client’s spouse attempted to renege on the terms of a deed of separation.
- Negotiated a Nuptial agreement involving assets valued in excess of £5m.
- Represented a husband in a 3-day finding of fact hearing, successfully arguing the allegations against him were unfounded and achieving an outcome of shared care for the children.
Partner
Legal 500 UK Recommended Lawyer 2025.
Sandra is one of the UK’s top-rated solicitors as voted for by verified clients on the independent VouchedFor website where you can read her many testimonials.
Sandra has exclusively practiced in divorce and family law since qualifying as a solicitor in April 1994, after graduating from Sheffield University and the College of Law in York.
Sandra is an accredited specialist with Resolution (formerly known as the Solicitors Family Law Association) with accreditations in complex financial/property matters and domestic abuse. Sandra is also an experienced collaborative family lawyer.
Sandra joined Acclaimed Family Law in March 2017 as a Senior Executive Solicitor, having successfully led two established family departments at local law firms. She is well known and highly regarded on the South Yorkshire family lawyers’ circuit and is personally recommended in the Legal 500 as ‘very experienced’ and ‘confident, committed and focused’.
Sandra is passionate about out of court family dispute resolution for appropriate cases, especially the collaborative model, which continues to grow in popularity as the one of the best options for dealing with separation or divorce with minimum stress. Sandra is a committee member of CFL North (Brighter Future) and helps organise annual collaborative training events and workshops.
When not collaborating, Sandra is a skilled negotiator and litigator, equally comfortable in the courtroom setting. With a background in economics and accounting, she has great business acumen, which comes to the fore when dealing with complex business accounts and the tax implications of divorce.
Sandra is renowned for her meticulous case preparation and her keen eye for detail. As one of her client testimonials attests, “Sandra has been great at untangling my husband’s web of lies” leading to a greater divorce settlement. She is very quick to grasp the pertinent facts of a case and her efficient, skilled work ethic drives progress and helps to keep her clients’ costs to a minimum.
Sandra establishes a great rapport with her clients by putting them at ease while instilling confidence in her abilities to look after their best interests. Her caseload is wide ranging but primarily consists of moderate to large money divorce and civil partnership dissolution cases, with specialisms in dealing with property and investment portfolios, family trusts, businesses, limited companies, shareholdings, cross-border issues, pension sharing and maintenance claims.
She is skilled in drafting pre-nuptial agreements, separation and cohabitation agreements. Sandra also represents clients in complex private children law proceedings and domestic abuse cases.
Sandra receives instructions from clients all over the country and internationally.
Partner
Daniel is a Partner and Family Law Solicitor specialising in financial remedies and children issues resulting from relationship breakdown.
His specialisms include financial disputes in family cases involving high-value assets, separation matters of unmarried couples, property disputes for unmarried couples, civil partnership dissolution, same-sex relationship disputes, separation agreements, cohabitation agreements and child arrangements.
Additionally, Daniel is an FMC Accredited Mediator, handling all areas of family mediation, including separation, finance, and children. He focuses on financial matters for both married and unmarried couples.
Daniel holds an LLB honours in law and is a trained Resolution collaborative lawyer.
Partner
Legal 500 UK Recommended Lawyer 2025
“Can I just take this opportunity to thank you for all you have done for me. I know you're only ‘doing your job’ but you really have been a great support, your honest words and guidance has made this horrible process easier to understand and deal with." CR
A highly-respected, experienced family law solicitor, Peter joined Acclaimed family Law from a “top tier” Family Law Team and has himself consistently been a named individual in the Legal 500 directory over the years - "The fantastic Peter Dadswell presents clients' cases with a succinctness and clarity that gets to the crux of issues quickly." - Legal 500 Testimonial
Dealing with a whole range of family law matters including children disputes, divorce and co-habitee issues, Peter has particular expertise in financial issues on divorce or separation and is also skilled at drafting Pre-Nuptial Agreements to protect assets in the event of relationship breakdown.
On a personal level Peter spent many years coaching grassroots football as an FA National level qualified coach and is now an FA Talent Identification qualified scout and scout for the academy of a professional football club.
Partner
Sarah regularly represents individuals who are in the most distressing of circumstances, for example survivors of domestic abuse, or where there are disputes between parents regarding where their children shall live and with whom they shall spend their time and also advising parents when Social Services are involved with their children. Sarah is also instructed on Forced Marriage Protection Orders.
Sarah works very closely with domestic abuse support services in the local areas to ensure clients receive swift advice and the protection of the Court.
Regularly involved in complex cases, Sarah has experience of barring orders and the instruction of experts within Court proceedings.
Sarah undertakes a lot of her own advocacy to represent her clients before different levels of the judiciary. She will represent her clients to the best of her ability and take the necessary action to appeal any decisions which may be wrong in law.
Sarah has had the following reported cases:-
Care Proceedings - G (Children: Fair Hearing), Re [2019] EWCA Civ 126 (07 February 2019) (bailii.org)
A proud member of Resolution - Sarah supports constructive, non-confrontational handling of family disputes.
Solicitor
Legal 500 - Recommended Lawyer 2025
Philippa provides expert advice on a range of Family Law matters, including issues relating to private law children proceedings, injunctions, divorce & separation and financial matters.
After completing an undergraduate in Criminology and Sociology, Philippa undertook a post Graduate Diploma of Law before commencing her Masters in Legal Practice in 2017 in which she obtained a Distinction in the Family Law module. She then went on to complete her training contract and qualified as a Solicitor in 2023.
Philippa believes in having a positive working relationship with her clients and implements a friendly and pragmatic approach to promote a seamless and confident client journey. She prides herself in providing concise and comprehensive advice to her clients to find an appropriate resolution.
Philippa is passionate about charity work and enjoys contributing her baked goods for bake sales, raising over £700 for the Little Princess Trust.
Recent Reviews:
Sills Betteridge (formerly Acclaimed Family Law) have diligently and professionally navigated a path through complex divorce proceedings and enforcement action spanning over 6 years. My initial call was taken by Jill Raine, an absolute shining light and a tremendous support throughout. The level of knowledge, advice and compassion shown from the whole team has been exemplary.
Philippa Smith has been nothing short of miraculous throughout. Their level of expertise and tenacity exceeded my expectations. The standard of communication was excellent, my calls and emails never failed to be replied to promptly and with clarity. At times I found the process overwhelming, however the determination and guidance of the fabulous team at Sillls Betteridge successfully concluded matters.
Philippa Smith is an absolute star - she is pragmatic, calm, focused, highly intelligent and great on strategy in a financial remedy case. She also has wonderful client care skills.
Solicitor
Emma is a qualified solicitor working in our Sheffield family law team.
Her areas of specialism include divorce, matrimonial finances, private children matters including child arrangements and cohabitee disputes.
She is a proud Resolution South Yorkshire & YRes South Yorkshire committee member.
Trainee Solicitor
Victoria assists Partner Leanne Barton and the team at the Sheffield office dealing with divorce and finance matters.
Prior to starting her Training Contact in September 2023, Victoria worked as a Paralegal in the Family Emergency Team handling matters involving domestic abuse and children issues. She has experience in preparing Court Applications, drafting legal documents, attended pre-proceedings appointments and conducted her own advocacy in Family Law Act Proceedings.
She obtained first class LLB Law degree in 2020 at Sheffield Hallam University. She is also in the process of completing the Legal Practice Course and Masters at the University of Law (Sheffield).
Whilst at Sheffield Hallam University, she received the ‘Rising Star’ award sponsored by Irwin Mitchell (2018), the ‘Martin Luther King’ award for receiving the highest grade in the International Human Rights module (2019) and the Land Law Prize, awarded to the student with the highest mark in the land law module (2020).
To support IDAS (Yorkshire’s largest domestic abuse charity), Victoria took part in the Great Yorkshire Tour to raise funds and awareness of domestic abuse.
During her studies, she also volunteered at Support Through Court, a charity dedicated to providing free, independent assistance to people facing proceedings without legal representation.
Paralegal
Jill deals with divorce cases, financial consent orders and change of name deeds.
Having worked within the legal profession for over 25 years, Jill has a wealth of experience and understands that client care is just as important as providing legal advice.
Clients regularly state how supportive Jill was during their case and how she often responded to their questions out of office hours.
Recent Review:
Sills Betteridge (formerly Acclaimed Family Law) have diligently and professionally navigated a path through complex divorce proceedings and enforcement action spanning over 6 years. My initial call was taken by Jill Raine, an absolute shining light and a tremendous support throughout. The level of knowledge, advice and compassion shown from the whole team has been exemplary.
Legal Secretary