Rate My Professor Emma Hitchings

Professor Emma Hitchings is a Professor of Family Law at the University of Bristol Law School, where she serves as Deputy Head of School. She holds an LLB and a PhD from the University of Wales. Her primary research and teaching interests center on family law, with a particular emphasis on financial remedies upon divorce and broader aspects of family justice. Hitchings has led several significant empirical research projects that have provided critical insights into family law practices. As principal investigator of the Nuffield Foundation-funded Fair Shares project (2021-2025), she conducted surveys with recent divorcees and in-depth interviews to map financial arrangements reached by couples in England and Wales, both through the courts and informally. This work examined the processes of reaching settlements, professional advice sought, and challenges in implementation, offering evidence to inform legal reform, professional guidance, and policy development. Other key projects under her leadership include an examination of final settlements in financial disputes following divorce, focusing on the timing and context of consent orders, and research on litigants in person in private family law cases.

With 73 research outputs, Professor Hitchings has made substantial contributions to the academic literature on family law. Notable publications include 'The Financial Realities of Getting Divorced in England and Wales' (2026), a chapter in Diverse Voices; 'Divorce among families with dependent-aged children: the interaction between child arrangements and financial settlements' (2025); 'Hidden in plain sight: the financial vulnerability of female divorcees' (2025); and 'Rules Versus Discretion in Financial Remedies on Divorce' (2019). Her research has shaped understandings of how financial and property division operates in divorce cases in practice. Hitchings is joint editor of the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law and an editorial board member of the Financial Remedies Journal. She previously served as an academic member of the Family Law Committee of the Law Society for ten years, a member of the Law Commission’s Advisory Board for Marital Property Agreements, and a participant in the Family Justice Council’s Financial Needs Working Group. Her work continues to influence family law policy and practice.