Practice Areas
Dispute Resolution
Direct Access
‘Clients love her, she is very supportive of them. In the courtroom she is highly persuasive and can win judges over even when the client’s position is not the easiest to argue.’
‘Catherine Wood stands out among her fellow KCs for her humanity, wisdom, knowledge and good judgement. She is the go-to person for anything ‘leave to remove’.’
‘Catherine is at the top of her game, and her expertise is very high. She is an excellent advocate, using a few words to very good effect.’
Chambers and Partners, 2025
Experience
Year of Call: 1985
Year of Silk: 2011
Qualifications
Arbitrator (CIArb)
Education
LLB (Hons) (Lond)
Appointments
Recorder 2007
Profile
Catherine has a long established, well- deserved reputation as being one of the country’s leading barristers in the field of private children cases. Appointed in 2007 as a family law Recorder Catherine is able to draw on her extensive experience both as advocate and Judge when representing clients. Frequently instructed in protracted and complicated disputes, often involving an international element, relocation, allegations of sexual abuse, parental alienation and expert evidence.
Professional Memberships
South Eastern Circuit
Bar Pro Bono Unit
Middle Temple
International Academy of Family Lawyers
Testimonials
“Please pass on my thanks to Catherine Wood for helping me in my case and finding resolution in what has been a challenging and long drawn out year. I feel she has an exceptional way with people. Her manner and approach to the case put me at ease through one of the most stressful periods of my life”. Lay Client, November 2020
Directories
‘Catherine’s advocacy is insightful, razor-sharp and brutally effective.’
Legal 500 2025
“Catherine is at the top of her game, and her expertise is very high. She is an excellent advocate, using a few words to very good effect.”
“Clients love her, she is very supportive of them. In the courtroom she is highly persuasive and can win judges over even when the client’s position is not the easiest to argue.”
“Catherine Wood stands out among her fellow KCs for her humanity, wisdom, knowledge and good judgement. She is the go-to person for anything ‘leave to remove.”
Chambers & Partners 2025
“She is exceptionally prepared and can give difficult advice in an authoritative but kind way. Clients are never left in any doubt as to what the advice is.”
“She is an excellent and persuasive advocate who has enormous authority.”
“A calm and knowledgeable presence in even the most fraught cases.”
Chambers and Partners 2024
‘Catherine is a brilliant advocate. She makes everything look effortless. She rolls her sleeves up, listens to the client and solicitors and then gets on with it. Judges listen to her too. She is not afraid of a fight but is so pragmatic.’
Legal 500, 2024 – Tier 2
“A doughty opponent, who is very sensible and very listenable to if you’re a judge too.”
“An excellent advocate, who doesn’t waste words and gets her point across pithily and cleverly.”
Chambers and Partners, 2023
‘Catherine very capably handles difficult cases and gives the best advice and service to the clients.’
Legal 500, 2023
Recognised for her expert international children practice, and has an impressive record when it comes to matters concerning abduction, parental alienation and sexual abuse. She often handles matters with complex issues attached. Sources praise her calm, sensitive approach to cases and clients.
“Effortless in the courtroom and has the ability to kill a case with kindness.” “She has a lovely manner with clients and is at the top of her game.” “Able to deliver difficult advice with warmth and compassion, Catherine has just the right balance of robustness and charm.”
Chambers & Partners, 2021
Band 1
‘Incredibly accomplished advocate with a clear, persuasive and strong command of the courtroom.’
Legal 500, 2021
Recognised for her expert international children practice, and has an impressive record when it comes to matters concerning abduction, parental alienation and sexual abuse. She often handles matters with complex issues attached. Sources praise her calm, sensitive approach to cases and clients.
“She just cuts through all the documentation and gets straight to the point. You just feel that you couldn’t be better placed for success.” “Catherine is brilliant. She brings calmness and clarity to the most combative of cases and is incredibly persuasive. She immediately understands all of the issues in the case and how to get to the bottom of them. Clients love her and she is a joy to work with.”
Chambers & Partners 2020
Band 1
‘Her cross-examination lights up the courtroom.’
Legal 500, 2020
Recognised for her expert international children practice, particularly when it comes to matters concerning abduction, parental alienation and sexual abuse. She brings her experience as a judge to bear when handling complex cases. She is experienced at representing high net worth and high-profile individuals.
Strengths: “The doyenne of the RCJ. I have never known anyone who can command the attention of the high court like she can. Polished, persuasive and someone who promotes sense in all around her. Her judgement is unquestionable.”
Chambers & Partners 2019
Band 1
‘Commands the court room effortlessly.’
Legal 500, 2019
Recognised for her expert international children practice, particularly when it comes to matters concerning abduction, parental alienation and sexual abuse. She brings her experience as a judge to bear when handling complex cases. She is experienced at representing high net worth and high-profile individuals.
Strengths: “She is a delight to work with. She is so calm and considered and it’s very reassuring to have her on your side. Catherine has meticulous attention to detail and an impressive ability to hold and then recall the smallest details among the myriad facts in a complex case.”
Chambers & Partners 2018
Band 1
‘Commands the respect of everyone, both in and out of the courtroom.’
Legal 500, 2017
Recognised for her expert international children practice, particularly when it comes to matters concerning abduction, parental alienation and sexual abuse. She brings her experience as a judge to bear when handling complex cases.
Strengths: “An excellent advocate with superb judgement who is at home dealing with complicated children’s cases. She never gets it wrong; she absolutely nails it in one sentence.”
Chambers & Partners 2017
Band 1
She is an extremely reassuring presence in the courtroom and fights hard for her clients.
Legal 500, 2016
Is highly respected by some of the most prominent names in family law for her work in private children law matters with serious complicating factors.
Strengths: “She cuts through witness prevarication.” “An outstanding advocate, she says only what’s necessary and what she says is extremely effective. She also has a real sense of responsibility for a case, and is empathetic, friendly and approachable.”
Chambers & Partners 2016
Has a deeply respected children practice focusing principally on complex and very contentious private law proceedings. Her cases often relate to the relocation and abduction of children.
Expertise: “She is very sharp-witted and her advocacy is very skilful. She’s a rising star and a lot of people here like her approach.” “She has a fantastic bedside manner with clients, and an incredible eye for detail. Also, in the nicest possible way, she can destroy someone in cross-examination.”
Chambers & Partners 2015
Band 1
‘A fantastic silk who is trusted by the court.’
The Legal 500 2015
Has gone from strength to strength since taking silk in 2011 and is particularly noted for her efforts in serious private law children cases, especially those concerning sexual abuse and parental alienation.
Expertise: “A great advocate. She manages clients’ expectations and achieves good results. She’s very focused, very organised – the all-round package.”
Chambers & Partners 2014
Catherine Wood QC has thrived since taking silk in 2011. One instructing solicitor said that “she is incredibly helpful and authoritative – she is my go-to person when I don’t know what I’m doing.” Wood specialises in private law children work, including Hague Convention cases.
Chambers & Partners 2013
Catherine Wood QC, who is “superb on every level, technically brilliant, relaxed and reassuring with clients.” She was regarded as “the best junior private children lawyer in the country,” and is expected to continue to impress in silk.
Chambers and Partners 2012
Recently appointed silk Catherine Wood QC is also highly recommended.
The Legal 500 2011
Catherine Wood handles private children work with an emphasis on contact and residence disputes. According to commentators “she has an assured manner with clients and an excellent instinct for the right approach in any given case.”
Chambers and Partners 2011
Band 1
Catherine Wood, a private law children expert who is “a determined opponent who is prepared to the nth degree.”
Chambers and Partners 2010
Band 1
Recommended as a Children Law Leading Junior
The Legal 500 2010
“A dogged opponent who is guaranteed to be well prepared,” Catherine Wood moves up the table this year after receiving a welter of positive feedback: “She is destined for the High Court Bench, she is that good.” Peers laud Wood’s “ability to inspire real confidence,” noting that her “apparently laid-back style masks a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Chambers and Partners 2009
Catherine Wood who has ‘excellent instincts’ and ‘an assured touch with clients and judges alike’.
The Legal 500, 2009
“Calm and understated,” according to interviewees, Wood “does not add personal drama to already charged situations.” Matters in question include private law disputes over contact and residence, as well as public law disputes concerning neglect, abuse and the continuation of medical treatment.
Chambers & Partners 2008
“Effective, hard-hitting style” brings her a strong solicitor following. As one source mused: “It would be hard to find a more pleasant barrister to do your case well.”
Chambers & Partners 2007
Catherine Wood is ‘a children specialist with excellent instincts, and an assured touch with clients and judges alike’.
The Legal 500, 2008