Categories and Criteria
The Awards are a celebration of what our members represent. Across all entries, judges will be looking for evidence of nominees embedding Resolution’s Code of Practice.
There are sixteen award categories, find out the criteria for each award below:
- Resolution Solicitor of the Year
- Resolution Barrister of the Year
- Resolution Rising Star
- Resolution Legal Aid Practitioner of the Year
- Resolution Pro bono Team of the Year
- Resolution Region of the Year
- Resolution Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award
- Resolution Wellbeing Award
- Resolution Innovation Award
- Resolution Children Practitioner of the Year
- Resolution Finance Professional of the Year
- Resolution Lifetime Achievement Award – in memory of John Cornwell
Resolution Solicitor of the Year
This award celebrates a solicitor who embodies and champions Resolution’s core values. They are a passionate advocate for the Resolution approach and exemplify this by the use of the Code of Practice in their daily work.
Judges will look at the following criteria:
- evidence of providing clients with clear, effective options to help them make informed decisions
- demonstrated ability to collaborate with others, working towards the best possible outcome for clients
- evidence of actively reducing and managing conflict, focusing on promoting constructive solutions
Submit an entry
Resolution Barrister of the Year
This award celebrates a barrister who embodies and champions Resolution’s core values. They are a passionate advocate for the Resolution approach and exemplify this by the use of the Code of Practice in their daily work.
Judges will look at the following criteria:
- evidence of providing clients with clear, effective options to help them make informed decisions
- demonstrated ability to collaborate with others, working towards the best possible outcome for clients
- evidence of actively reducing and managing conflict, focusing on promoting constructive solutions
Submit an entry
Resolution Legal Executive of the Year
This award celebrates a legal executive who embodies and champions Resolution’s core values. They are a passionate advocate for the Resolution approach and exemplify this by the use of the Code of Practice in their daily work.
Judges will look at the following criteria
- evidence of providing clients with clear, effective options to help them make informed decisions
- demonstrated ability to collaborate with others, working towards the best possible outcome for clients
- evidence of actively reducing and managing conflict, focusing on promoting constructive solutions
Submit an entry
Resolution Rising Star
For an emerging talent / YRes member (i.e. within the first ten years of their career) who has demonstrated their potential as a future leader in family justice.
Judges will look for the following criteria:
- going above and beyond to champion the Code of Practice
- a commitment to making the family justice landscape the best it can be
- acting as a positive voice and role model for their peers and future family practitioners
Submit an entry
Resolution Legal Aid Practitioner of the Year
This award celebrates a practitioner who has committed their expertise to give the most vulnerable individuals access to justice in family law. It recognises the specialist skills legal aid practitioners demonstrate when working with vulnerable people, often in complex situations.
Judges will look at the following criteria:
- applying special expertise in complex family cases
- improving access to justice for all and advocating for change in the system
- demonstrating resilience in challenging circumstances to support their clients
Submit an entry
Resolution Pro Bono Team of the Year
This award recognises a firm, team or group of practitioners that uses its expertise and dedicates time voluntarily to promote Resolution’s values for the benefit of the wider community. It celebrates those who use their professional skills to make a positive difference through pro bono work and advocacy for vulnerable groups.
Judges will look at the following criteria:
- evidence of using professional expertise to support and provide access to justice within the local community
- putting the Code of Practice at the centre of voluntary or pro bono initiatives
- evidence of a measurable positive impact on the community, vulnerable groups, or the development of future family justice practitioners
Submit an entry
Resolution Region of the Year
This award recognises the Resolution region that has worked the hardest to build a strong network of members with our Code of Practice at its centre. This could be through helping share best practice, supporting junior professionals in the region, raising the local profile of Resolution or hosting innovative training and networking events. Judges will focus on the quality and breadth of the region’s initiatives, rather than its size.
Judges will look at the following criteria:
- commitment to building an active regional community of family justice professionals
- evidence of the positive impact on members in the region, and the families they work with
- evidence of a growing region and demonstrating the appeal of Resolution membership to future potential members
Submit an entry
Resolution Team of the Year
Sponsored by Cansford Laboratories
This award recognises a firm or team that has fully embraced the Resolution ethos and approach, placing Resolution and its Code of Practice at the core of all its family law work. The winning firm or team will demonstrate a deep commitment to these principles through its induction process, training policy, mentoring and support for junior practitioners and its outward facing communications.
Judges will look at the following criteria:
- evidence of how Resolution is actively promoted within the firm
- evidence of how team members are encouraged to participate in Resolution activities, fostering professional growth and collaboration
- commitment to Resolution’s values within the firm’s approach to professional development
Submit an entry
Resolution Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award
This award recognises an individual or group driving positive change in equality, diversity and inclusion within the family justice sector.
Judges will look at the following criteria:
- commitment to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion
- applying innovative policies or working practices to support equality, diversity and inclusion and/or improve social mobility
- evidence of the positive impact made to addressing equality, diversity and inclusion in the family justice profession, including tangible outcomes and changes in culture
Submit an entry
Resolution Wellbeing Award
This award recognises an individual or firm who has championed a healthy workplace and prioritised the wellbeing of their colleagues, employees, or the wider family justice community. It celebrates those who understand that supporting the practitioner is essential to providing the best service to families.
Judges will look at the following criteria:
- evidence of implementing effective strategies or initiatives to prioritise wellbeing in the workplace
- promoting the importance of wellbeing to help normalise the conversation and drive cultural change within the family justice community
- evidence of making a tangible, positive difference to the mental health and resilience of colleagues or the wider profession
Submit an entry
Resolution Innovation Award
This award recognises an individual or group who have developed new approaches to their practice to benefit clients, their firm, or the wider family justice community. It celebrates the creative application of new technologies, systems, or processes that uphold the Resolution ethos.
Judges will look at the following criteria:
- developing and applying an innovative solution or initiating smarter, more efficient ways of working
- evidence of how new technologies, systems, or processes have benefited your organisation, its clients, or the wider family justice community
- demonstrating how this innovative approach has embraced and furthered the principles of the Code of Practice
Submit an entry
Resolution Children Practitioner of the Year
This award recognises an individual or group from any category of the Resolution membership who has made a difference to the lives of children from separating families. Nominees will be able to show how they champion children’s voices and advocate a child-centred approach.
Judges will look at the following criteria:
- leading the way in championing the voice of children and their experience of parental separation
- helping other professionals to take a child-centred approach
- demonstrating the positive impact on children in the family justice system
Submit an entry
Resolution Finance Professional of the Year
This award recognises an individual or group from any category of the Resolution membership including financial advisers, who has gone above and beyond to put the code at the heart of clients’ approach to financial matters.
Judges will look at the following criteria:
- evidence of working with other resolution members
- commitment to continually develop knowledge and skills
- evidence of helping clients understand and navigate both the long term financial and emotional consequences of their decisions
Submit an entry
Resolution NCDR Practitioner of the Year
This award recognises an individual or group from any category of the Resolution membership who has demonstrated exceptional skill and dedication in resolving disputes outside of court. The recipient of this award has shown a commitment to the code, helping clients reach fair and amicable solutions without the need for formal litigation.
Judges will look at the following criteria:
- evidence of innovative and collaborative approaches to NCDR, including working effectively with professionals from other disciplines
- evidence of helping clients understand all the options available to them and supporting them to decide which are right for them
- demonstrable impact in helping clients manage both the legal and emotional aspects of disputes
Submit an entry
Resolution Working Together Award
This award recognises a firm, team, or group of professionals (for example, a POD) that has placed an emphasis on collaboration at the heart of its practice. The winning team will demonstrate a commitment to providing clients with a broad range of expertise through their internal culture, client strategy, and dedication to multi-disciplinary working.
Judges will look at the following criteria:
- evidence of successful multi-disciplinary working, showing how different professions within the team collaborate to achieve the best outcomes for families
- evidence of a team-wide commitment to promoting NCDR and out-of-court solutions as the primary approach for clients
- evidence of supporting those at the start of their careers to specifically focus on collaborative skills and working with other professionals
Submit an entry
Resolution Lifetime Achievement Award – in memory of John Cornwell
This prestigious award, in honour of John Cornwell, one of Resolution’s founders, is presented annually to an individual or group who has made an outstanding and sustained contribution to family justice.
The award recognises those who have championed our Code of Practice throughout their career.
Entries must be nominated by another member, you cannot self-nominate for this category.
Judges will look at the following criteria:
- a sustained contribution to upholding the Code of Practice over time, which has made a significant difference either regionally or nationally to family justice
- a body of work which could include: writing books, articles and/or reports, public activities such as media or fundraising activity, supporting younger members, developing innovative practices/projects
- evidence of making a positive impact to peers and/or separating families.