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Page last amended September 16th.
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Collaborative Law at 1KBW
provides a family-centered forum for reaching a solution which avoids a Court battle.
Parties and their lawyers agree at the outset that they will not litigate. If the process fails without agreement, then the parties have to instruct
different lawyers to represent them in Court.
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There is a short description of collaborative Law, intended for people not familiar with the term,
here.
A key organisation in this field
Resolution (previously known as the Solicitors Family Law Association)
has 5500 members all of whom are family lawyers
committed to the constructive resolution of family disputes. Their members follow a Code of Practice that
promotes a non-confrontational approach to family problems and looks for solutions that consider the needs
of the whole family - and in particular the best interests of children.
You can find a collaborative lawyer from their site
here
and you can find a mediator
here.
------------------------Other organisations and firms, alphabetically-------------------
A City Law Firm are Family & Child Law Specialists and all their Family Solicitors are members of
the Resolution Panel. They handle an array of issues from pre-nuptial/civil partnership advice - divorce or dissolution -
surrogacy, fertility law, adoption to cohabitation separations, child orders and international ancillary relief.
They offer free Thursday clinics for city professionals by appointment.
Alternative Family Law - Southwark, London,
a great deal of free information about family law including alternatives to litigation (including mediation
and collaborative law), divorce, financial issues (including complext financial cases), international family law, family law issues affecting
gay men and lesbians (including civil partnership and parenting) and issues about children and cohabitation.
The site provides information in German as well as English.
Amicable Divorce is a new site which has been created
by a group of solicitors in Worcester who practice either mediation or collaborative family law.
This is the first time that a group of Family Law ADR specialists have established a site that covers
the spectrum of available ADR in a geographically defined area. There is general information on mediation and
collaborative law as well as information on the individual firms and solicitors available in the area
for this type of work. The site also includes details of divorce coaches and (currently one) financial neutral.
bbl family law of Norwich, offer information on a wide range of
approaches to resolving relationship breakdown.
The partners of the firm are experienced litigators, mediators and skilled negotiators, and are actively involved
in developing new methods of resolving family breakdown.
Collaborative Law is a site (and service) offered by
Winston Solicitors. They are firmly committed to helping their client reach agreement with the
ex-partner in an amicable way so they can continue to communicate with each other afterwards.
Team leader Viv Hulland was one of the first practising collaborative lawyers in the north of England,
having trained in May 2005.
Devon Family Solutions, based in Exeter and established in 1991,
is one of the largest agencies of its kind in the country and pioneered the Mediation movement.
It can assist couples from all over the region who are experiencing separation or divorce.
All mediators are selected and trained to recognized National and European standards and directly
accountable to a national body; FMA, SFLA or PDT. All are members of the UK College of Family Mediators (UKCFM).
Divorce Aid is a site run by
an independent group of professionals who volunteer their time to help people with divorce problems.
Advice is provided, by email, without any payment or promise
of further work. There is also a great deal of free information, attractively and helpfully presented,
on the site itself (and some attractive graphic designs to go with the sections).
They even operated a full service over Christmas!
They promote mediation and counselling and also promote collaborative law, as a new, more dignified, approach
to divorce.
Family Mediation Ireland (FMI) is a private client family mediation
service. FMI operate nationwide across the Republic of Ireland and use the co-mediation method for conducting
family mediations. Mediations are conducted with one male and one female mediator working with each couple in dispute.
Family mediation can be used to
Agree the terms of a Divorce or Legal Separation,
Resolve child maintenance, guardianship, custody or access arrangements,
Resolve a family dispute,
Divide property and assets by agreement,
Resolve inheritance/probate disputes,
Agree ongoing methods/means of communication between people in dispute,
Resolve passport or travel issues for children and
Resolve issues relating to the schooling of children.
Family Mediators Association
offers trained mediators to help all couples facing separation or divorce
to reach decisions about dealing with children, property and finance.
Family mediation is a voluntary process by which couples in dispute, particularly those going
through separation or divorce, are helped to deal with arrangements for their future.
Hartnell Chanot & Partners are Family Law Solicitors established in 1991 by
Norman Hartnell who has been practising Mediation since 1989. Norman also established the Devon Family Solutions
(see above) one of the first mediation consortiums in the country with a Legal Services Commission franchise
and over 20 mediators. The Hartnell Chanot & Partners site provides
extensive information on divorce, mediation, finance, childrens issues and all related topics. There are
particular sections for just-dads, just-mums, just-kids and just-grandparents. This is a very useful site
for people involved with a divorce.
Inspire Family Solicitors is a firm based in Salisbury whose
principal solicitor Caroline Frost is a Resolution trained Mediator and Collaborative Lawyer. Caroline offers
mediation and collaborative law in all areas of family law and relationship dispute.
Intelligent Divorce is a site which helps people prepare
for divorce, in the sense of explaining what documents, papers and financial reports they have to produce. The service
helps the person wanting a divorce - or the couple wanting to do it co-operatively - to assemble the information
and can then provide an expert opinion from a specialist family barrister at a leading chambers. The service has been set up
by two family lawyers, James Roberts, a barrister at 1 Kings Bench Walk and Mahie Abey, Head of Family Law at Dawson Hart solicitors
in East Sussex. The user does not need to pay money to start with - the use of the forms and web site is free, but at the point
that they want to submit the information to the lawyers, a fee is payable. The cost for using the "solo service"
is £780 (inc VAT) while the co-operative service (for both parties) costs £1,630 (inc VAT). These are fixed fees
but external fees would also be payable - Court fees of £45 to lodge the financial order and £385 for the actual
divorce. There could also be valuation fees from financial experts (if needed).
fo
Mediation East comes from solicitors
Bridge McFarland who have offices in Grimsby, Lincoln, Hull, Market Rasen,
Louth, Mablethorpe, Skegness and Doncaster. The Mediation East site has extensive information on Family Mediation -
what it is, how it works and how much it costs.
North Yorkshire Family Mediation is
a consortium of trained mediator/lawyers based in the North-east of England whose aim is to provide first
class assistance to those going through the trauma of resolving the problems associated with the breakdown
of a relationship.
Raworths Family Mediation
Services is part of Raworths, Solicitors, of Harrogate. There is information on the site about Family Mediation
and how disputing couples (and their lawyers) can work together in
Collaborative Law.
Staffordshire Collaborative Lawyers
are a group of like-minded, specialist, family lawyers with many years experience advising
clients on separation, divorce, children and financial matters and their implications.
Although they come from different law firms, they have all received special training in the
collaborative approach and now come together not only to help their clients but to further
general awareness of collaborative law.
They are all members of the Collaborative Family Law Group of Resolution, the specialist
association of family lawyers, and their collaborative work builds on the long-established Resolution
approach that family disputes should be dealt with in a constructive way designed to preserve people’s
dignity and to encourage agreements.
QueerPod is a joint project between a number of gay and lesbian lawyers
working in different firms and who have specialist expertise in the
law as it affects lesbian and gay relationships. They are all trained in collaborative law, the
legal process designed to facilitate couples and other family members reaching agreement and resolving issues
arising from their relationship or separation without having recourse to the Courts. Individual members
come from the following firms: Dawsons, Alternative Family Law, Blackfords, Covent Garden Family Law, Russell-Cooke,
Speechly Bircham, Cambridge Family Law Practice, Josiah Lake Gardiner, Alexander and Partners,
Bross Bennett, Burtonwoods and Family Law in Partnership.
This is the first cross-firm initiative of this kind that I have come across.
The Worcester Family Mediation Practice provides information on how family mediation
and collaborative law works.
Walker Smith & Way provide a series
of information sheets (in pdf format) on collaborative law and related topics. The firm has offices in
Ashton-under-Lyne, Birmingham, Liverpool and London and also in Wrexham and Chester.
A quick description of Collaborative Law from Hartnell Chanot & Partners
Collaborative law is fairly new to the UK and is fundamentally
changing the way people think about family law.
In short it is a new way to resolve divorce and family disputes -
collaborative lawyers and their clients agree in writing to reach
settlement without court involvement. They agree to work together to
resolve children and financial issues arising out of the separation,
and may enlist other experts, such as child specialists, as part of
the team. It brings lawyers into the process, and helps minimise costs
and hopefully conflict for all concerned.
At its simplest, collaborative law is about making key decisions
about the future all together in the same room, face to face. Clients
agree not go to court and the Collaborative lawyers sign an agreement
with them that disqualifies them from representing them in court if
the process breaks down. This means that collaborative lawyers are
absolutely committed to helping clients find the best solutions by
agreement, rather than conflict.
Lawyers Home Page....
Individuals Home Page
email delia@venables.co.uk
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Collaborative Law and Family Law Mediation