Current issue

Welcome to another action-packed issue, with a number of important developments, a great range of articles, and a few snaps from another fantastic National Conference, back in Brighton this year, where the new President of the Family Division, Sir Stephen Cobb gave a keynote address.  As ever at National Conference, the results of elections to the National Committee were announced, and Melanie welcomes the new members in her column here. We also caught up with one of them, James Belderbros, in our regular “Meet the Committee” column.

Many Resolution members will have been following the Mazur case with considerable interest, and many will be very glad to see it reach the outcome it did. We are very fortunate to have ex-Resolution chair Juliet Harvey on hand to set out in detail the role of CILEX Lawyers and their rigorous qualification route.

We are also privileged to have on hand the co-authors of the new Family Solutions Group (FSG) report, “Putting Children First”, to talk us through its findings and recommendations. Edward Cooke  and Charlotte Bradley received 546 responses to their survey on the evolving family law landscape, and interviewed nearly 50 key figures working across the family separation arena. Synthesising this breadth of material can have been no easy task, but has led to some very clear and forward-looking recommendations.

This issue also contains a trio of articles on mediation, which between them cover a lot of ground and a lot of perspectives. Joanna Gosling’s column examines the key psychological and strategic elements of any mediation and the balance that must be found for a successful outcome. Mary Raymont and Xanthy Papageorgiou explore the training involved to become a mediator, and how it can help in other areas of one’s practise. And Emma Wager and Sarah Manning offer practical advice on how family lawyers can best support their clients through the mediation process. Taken together, these articles offer a fascinating insight into the mediation world, and how well it meshes with Resolution’s core aims and strengths.

We also draw readers’ attention to Emma Post’s personal reflections on balancing family, career and a business, an inside account of the challenges of setting up a firm, and how family practise can be – to an extent – moulded to better fit in with parenting. As her firm celebrates its fifth birthday, we are sure Emma’s retrospective will chime with many readers.  It is interesting to see in the piece how much the skills of the family practitioner are called into play to build the new firm.

Other articles in this issue examine the latest post-Brussels IIa developments; the impact of technology on family practitioners; financial settlements in the shadow of terminal illness; and the challenges of dealing with legal gender issues and name changes. And, of course, we have our ongoing columns and pieces from Marcie Shaoul, Simon Sugar and the Legal Aid Committee. It is an action-packed issue!