Conciliation – Family Lawyers in England subscribe to a code of practice set down by the Family Lawyers organisation Resolution. Membership of Resolution commits family lawyers to resolving disputes in a non-confrontational way. We in England have long believed that family law disputes should be dealt with in a constructive way designed to preserve people’s dignity and to encourage agreements.

Demonisation of Litigators – This is where we differ from American collaborative lawyers. We believe that the demonisation of litigation has proved unhelpful to the growth of the collaborative movement in the US. We offer collaboration as one of a number of options which may suit the needs of a particular client or family. Many successful family lawyers in the UK, offer litigation as well as ADR options such as collaborative law.

The “Magic Circle” – Collaborative law was taken up by our leading family lawyers from the very outset, providing a great example which has now been followed by many.

In England we stress that the core advantages of collaborative law are:

Speed — collaboration allows couples to proceed at their own pace rather than having timescales imposed upon them.

Privacy — the collaborative approach generally contains a commitment that everything stays in the room between the couple and their legal teams.

Control — divorce may affect other financial and business planning. Collaborative law enables couples to stay in control of the divorce process and enables alignment of planning.