Current issue

Welcome to The Review’s 40th birthday edition, which seems a perfect moment to mark the magazine’s birthday as, at the same time, Resolution was also organising a celebration of John Cornwell Award-winners, expertly assembled by David Emmerson for a catch-up lunch. On the day, David interviewed Richard Sax, who was present at the inaugural SFLA meeting and went on to chair the organisation. His memories of how – and more importantly why – the body was set up are set out here, along with some thoughts from Lifetime Achievement Award-winner Peter Jones, and a few behind-the-scenes memories from Sue Gunn, brought to us from Spain. Even if you already know some of the background facts, it is still astonishing to look back on how far we have come and how much good the organisation has achieved since that meeting on 27 September 1982.

To further the retrospective theme we asked the Legal Aid Committee to look back on that particular aspect of Resolution’s journey in their regular column, and while it makes for more melancholic reading, there is also so much to be proud of there as well.

Elsewhere in this issue the team at Thomas More Chambers wrap up their epic examination of the interplay between the family courts and professional body regulators, an area that looks likely to loom larger than before as conduct becomes more of a regulatory focus in areas like medicine and financial services. A huge thanks to Sarah Lucy Cooper, Kerry Anne Currie and Charlotte Mitchell-Dunn for guiding us through the labyrinth, and a reminder that the three-part piece can be read as one.

We welcome in this issue a new column by Marcie Shaoul, who throughout 2026 will be discussing conflict, power and high-trust practice, opening with a fascinating analysis of why conflict can escalate in separation proceedings even if the people involved are intelligent, legally represented, and capable of complex reasoning in other domains of their lives.

And finally, it is great to welcome back Simon Sugar in this issue. Simon has written extensively for the magazine in the past, and here we have the first of a two-part analysis of domestic abuse and conduct in financial cases. This first part focuses on identification of abuse in order to develop an effective litigation strategy.