Family dispute resolution, arbitration and mediation lawyers.

Mediation is a voluntary and confidential process that involves the appointment of a neutral, impartial third party.

Our mediator will help you and your partner to communicate with each other and explore options that will work for your family, in a structured way. Once you have found the right outcome for your family, a Memorandum of Understanding is created by the mediator and converted into a legally binding document by your solicitors.

We have accredited mediators in many of our offices. You may contact them direct or ask your solicitor to make a referral. Our mediators offer in person or remote mediation using video conferencing platforms.

Our family law solicitors have a network of trusted independent mediators to whom they are happy to make referrals should that become necessary in your case.

You and your former partner appoint an independent specially trained arbitrator to make a decision for your family that will be final and binding.

You and your former partner may ask the arbitrator to deal with all of the issues in your case or just one or more distinct issues. You can also make decisions regarding the conduct of the proceedings such as whether there should be a hearing or a decision on the papers. The arbitrator will make a formal written decision (known as an award).

The main advantages to arbitration are that it is much quicker than waiting for the court to allocate hearing time to deal with your case and you will have the same arbitrator throughout.

You and your former partner each appoint your own specially trained collaborative lawyer. You will have a series of meetings between all four of you to present and discuss options. The collaborative process allows both of you to have the benefit of independent legal advice during the meetings

You and your solicitor sign an agreement that commits you to trying to resolve the issues without going to court and prevents your solicitor from representing you in court if the collaborative process breaks down. This means that everyone is absolutely committed to finding the best solutions by agreement, rather than through court proceedings.

Many of our family law solicitors are collaboratively trained.

This is an agreed meeting to try and discuss potential options for settlement with both your legal representatives present. Even if an outcome is not reached, it can help with narrowing the issues.

You both pay for a specialist (a “Judge”) that deals with family law cases (often an experienced solicitor, barrister or retired Judge) to consider the matter after both of your legal representatives have put your case forward. In the same way a Court would, the “Judge” then gives an indication as to what they think a Court would decide on the basis of the evidence. This then allows discussions to become more focused with a view to reaching an outcome to settle the matter.

Whichever way you decide to proceed, we will accommodate your wishes and provide you with the relevant support. We have strong established relationships with a number of experts, including tax experts, accountants, Independent Financial Advisors and a range of other trusted experts. We are able to seek assistance from experts along the way if and when required.