Leading Change for Families

We were the first (and remain the only) practice to combine lawyers, mediators and counsellors. We are the only solicitors practice to have non lawyer "family consultants" in house. Two of our partners are qualified family arbitrators.

We have had three successful House of Lords Appeals including the seminal House of Lords case of McFarlane which changed the face of finance cases, introducing the concepts of ‘compensation’ and ‘sharing the fruits of the marriage’ into spousal maintenance and Re G a case involving lesbian co-parents which defined gestational, biological and psychological parenting. We have acted in other high profile reported decisions (see Reported Cases).

We were instrumental in bringing the practice of collaborative law to the UK and have the highest concentration of collaborative professionals in any organisation. In 2010 we published the first practical hand book for clients divorcing collaboratively - "A Client's Guide to Collaborative Divorce - Putting Your Family First".  

We have the largest mediation practice within a solicitors practice and are the only solicitors practice to have child professional mediators in-house.

We hosted the first ‘parenting evening’ for clients and are leading the drive to bring parent education into the practice of divorce by masterminding the “Children First” initiative through Resolution.

We were involved in the parliamentary campaign (co-ordinating it on behalf of Resolution) to bring about much needed reform to the laws on cohabitation.

We have written the leading textbook on cases involving financial claims between non-married parents.

We are involved in the training of other family law specialists in collaborative law, negotiation skills and essential skills.

We spearheaded the Parenting after Parting initiative for the family law group Resolution and are the only solicitor's firm to offer the parenting workshops in-house. We also support a kidspace (www.akidspace.co.uk), a child centred support service for children going through family breakdown.