Welcome to our new Collaborative Working Party members

Loraine Davenport

Loraine joined Anthony Gold solicitors in December 2024. Her caseload is predominantly financial cases though she also deals with complex children cases.  She trained as a collaborative lawyer in 2005 and since then has concluded dozens of collaborative cases including UHNW prenuptials. Loraine would like to see collaborative law be more widely practiced and is keen to promote to professionals and clients. Loraine is also a trained mediator including hybrid and a litigator and advocate and all these skills assist her collaborative practice. Her approach is person focused – centred on getting her clients through this very difficult period of their life with the help of other professionals so that they can see there is light at the end of the tunnel.   

Christopher Lawton

Christopher Lawton is the founder of Lawton Financial Services, where he and his team help clients achieve their goals through tailored mortgage advice and financial planning. With a focus on collaboration, Christopher works closely with lawyers and mediators to provide mortgage capacity reports, ensuring clients have clarity during divorce proceedings and helping to create fair, practical solutions. His approach is built on building strong relationships and supporting clients in protecting what matters most while planning for the future.

Emma Sanders

Emma Sanders is a Partner at Sousa Law, where she specialises in complex family matters with a particular focus on cases involving domestic abuse. Before qualifying as a lawyer, Emma worked for eight years as an Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA), giving her extensive frontline experience in supporting survivors of abuse. Emma is a mediator, a collaboratively trained lawyer and trained in Resolution Together. Emma is committed to resolving disputes in a constructive and non-confrontational way. She has a strong background in working with clients who face additional challenges, such as mental health issues or learning difficulties, and is known for her calm, reassuring manner. With expertise spanning domestic abuse cases, intricate child arrangements, and surrogacy matters, Emma combines legal knowledge with compassion and empathy. Her dedication to protecting and empowering vulnerable clients underpins her practice, ensuring her clients feel supported and understood throughout their case.

We would also like to thank committee members who have recently stood down from the committee including Ian Hawkins, Steve Hennessy, Kelly Pougher and Katie Kilburn, Mary Shaw and Janet Baines for all their work whilst on the committee.

If you would like to join a Resolution committee please look out for the next recruitment round in 2026.