Birketts LLP

Resolution (formerly known as the Solicitors’ Family Law Association) is an organisation committed to developing and promoting best standards in the practice of family law amongst its members and amongst family lawyers in general.  Since 2004, Resolution has overseen the development of collaborative law in England and Wales and commissioned research in late 2007 to establish first the extent to which collaborative law has taken off in the country; and secondly the views of both clients and lawyers involved in the process.

Collaborative law is a process designed to resolve family law disputes without going to Court.  Among the key features are:-

(i) Each party is represented by their own lawyer;
(ii) Negotiations are conducted face to face in four-way meetings between the parties and their lawyers;
(iii) The parties and lawyers undertake to negotiate amicably and in good faith;
(iv) If either party does resort to litigation, both lawyers are disqualified from acting in the proceedings.

The author of the research, Mark Sefton, is an independent socio-legal researcher, previously a research officer at the Department of Constitutional Affairs, and a researcher at Cardiff Law School.  The outcome of his research was launched by Resolution on 26 February 2009.

The research has shown that collaborative law cases have increased substantially during 2006 and 2007.  There was an increase of 87% of cases during that period.  Whilst a number of cases in the country cannot be accurately plotted, it is likely that during the survey period over 2,000 cases opened, with perhaps 1,500 having been completed and the rest ongoing.  The parties who have completed collaborative cases were frequently said to be between 35 and 54 with either a degree or professional qualification.  They tended to be economically active – employed or self-employed at the start of the process.  Most cases had children still in full-time education or training.

Survey respondents thought that the collaboration process led to quicker settlement and that the process was likely to have been less or the same expense had the case been settled through the traditional route.

Most clients interviewed stated that they chose the process because they wanted to avoid the stress of an acrimonious divorce.  In the majority of cases that outcome was achieved.  The clients put their desire to focus on their children’s interests as one of the main factors in their choice of process and felt that this had been achieved.  As one client stated in the survey “I genuinely in my heart of hearts haven’t found anything negative. . .for me it has been a positive and helpful way of resolving something that I didn’t want in the first place.”  Another respondent said “I certainly feel that it is much better to be around a table discussing things rather than letters backwards and forwards between the solicitors.  Because you are able to keep a lot of goodwill between you by doing that. . .so I feel like it was definitely the way to go.”

Oliver Gravell, a family lawyer with Birketts LLP, who sits on the Resolution National Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee which oversees collaborative law in England and Wales, says “This piece of research is of great importance.  It is the first time that somebody has looked, critically, at the way in which collaborative law is developing in the United Kingdom.”

Collaborative law is offered by many family law firms across the region.  The collaborative lawyers, and other professionals such as counsellors, financial advisors and accountants, meet in local practice groups – of which there are over 70 across the country.  In the East Anglia region there are practice groups (known as PODs) in Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds, Norwich and Cambridge.