• The UK, particularly London, is known as the “divorce capital of the world” due to wide disclosure obligations and favourable financial outcomes for the weaker party.
• Recent changes include no-fault divorce, increased transparency, and an emphasis on non-court dispute resolution (NCDR).
• The transparency pilot allows greater press access, which could be risky for high-profile individuals.

• Support: Seek emotional support during family disputes and divorce.
• Right Lawyer: Choose a lawyer you trust, but avoid overly aggressive tactics as they can lead to costly and damaging outcomes.
• Right Process: Consider alternatives to court, such as mediation or collaborative law, for a more constructive resolution.

• Threats: Unregulated family law services and court delays can lead to poor advice and delayed justice. Increased transparency could risk public exposure of cases.
• Opportunities: Anticipated reforms in cohabitation and financial remedies law, and a growing emphasis on non-court solutions, will likely improve the family law process.

• Communication is key, with a team approach ensuring someone is always available for client inquiries.
• Transparency in billing is crucial, offering cost estimates and keeping clients informed.
• A holistic approach, including therapy services, helps clients make well-informed decisions during emotionally difficult times.

• Virtual meetings have become common, allowing for greater flexibility in lawyer-client relationships, though some matters may still benefit from face-to-face meetings.
• The court portal simplifies divorce processes and enables quicker resolutions for simple cases.
• AI tools for document analysis save time and reduce costs by automating tedious tasks like reviewing large volumes of documents.

What is the current legal landscape for Family Law in the UK?

From an international perspective, London’s been known as the divorce capital of World for a long time, and that’s for a number of reasons. That includes our wide disclosure obligations in respect of worldwide assets and the court’s powers to require disclosure. It includes the perceived generosity for the to the financially weaker person. And although there have been some changes, they still benefit from the joint approach of sharing the assets and on the requirement that needs are met.

We also only have pre and post nuptial agreements are only given effect provided they’re fair and meet needs. And finally there’s the ability to apply for financial relief after an overseas divorce. Otherwise there’ve been really significant changes to law and practise. So we finally have no fault divorce. We there’s an increasing emphasis on non court dispute resolution processes, which is fantastic for firms like Family Law and Partnership who’ve really championed those processes for a long time. And there’s the increasing transparency. So that’s come from two sources, both from judges and also from a transparency pilot, which is intended to open up the courts and to allow the press greater access.

In many ways that’s a positive, but of course it does open up the risk for high profile individuals that they’re going to end up in the press. So that’s also something we need to think about in every case.

What are three essential pieces of advice for clients related to Family Law?

I think the most important bit of advice is make sure you’re in the right place. So divorce and family disputes are one of the most stressful things that anyone can go through. So get whatever support you need, get whatever counselling, whatever that is.

Secondly, make sure you get the right lawyer. So that’s obviously someone you feel you can know and trust and work with, but also someone who’s going to take the right approach. So whilst it might be a tempting to get someone who’s got a reputation as a Rottweiler, that’s rarely the right approach because it can just lead to expensive proceedings and really fractured relationships.

And thirdly, think about the right process. So that’s about, you know, it is you don’t go to court unless you have to. Is there a better way of doing it? And there are many better ways of doing it, whether it’s mediation, collaborative law or arbitration, if a decision needs to be made. So I think it’s thinking about all of those things right at the start.

What are the greatest threats and opportunities in Family law in the next 12 months?

I think in terms of threats, there’s the growth in the unregulated businesses that are now offering family or advice that are sold as cheaper and more constructive, but in my experience, just often mean you don’t get the specialist device that you need.

There’s the horrific delays in some courts in getting things listed which mean that justice is effectively denied to some people and there’s the increase in transparency. So that can be seen as a positive in terms of encouraging non court dispute resolution. It can also mean there’s a risk of your case getting into the public domain. So appearing in the press opportunities, we’re likely to face some changes in the law.

So the current government have promised reform of the law for cohabitants. There’s also a Law Commission consultation about reform and financial remedies law. So that’s likely to improve things for people going through the process. Most importantly is the emphasis on NCDR. So these are processes outside of court that are designed to do things more constructively and frankly, better. That’s really positive. The more people that can resolve things in better ways without going to court is going to be so much better for the people involved.

How do you ensure high client satisfaction levels are maintained by your practice?

It’s all about communication. So that’s the first thing I think. So you know, being available and communicating with your clients. So we always work in teams at family law and partnerships. So we have a director, an associate or senior associate and a legal assistant.

So there’s always someone who should be able to take clienting enquiries. And of course, it means that things are dealt with at the right level. Billing transparency, absolutely crucial. So clients want to know what they’re going to be spending. It’s the biggest cause of complaints for law firms. So being open and transparent, giving them a good range of options right at the start is really important. And then keeping that updated. So certainly we each time we bill, we let them know how we’re going against the cost estimate.

Finally, there’s the holistic approach that we take here. So the therapists that we have working with us that really help clients get themselves in the right shape to make decisions and enable them to make the right decisions.

What technological advancements are reshaping Family law, and how can clients leverage them?

Well, the world’s changed fundamentally, hasn’t it, since COVID, You know, we’re all doing online virtual meetings increasingly often something that we never did before. So that’s enabled law firms to open up virtually. It’s also given clients greater choice. So the geographical location of the lawyer and the client is no longer as important as it was. I think people need to be careful with that. I think something can be lost if everything’s done online.

So think about, you know, what’s appropriate to be done online with a cost saving and what you actually need to sit down face to face because I want to talk about the court portal has made a massive difference to access to the divorce process. That’s now a really simple process that a lot of people can access. It also enables things to be dealt with quickly, simple consent applications, for example.

And finally, more recently, there’s the increase in artificial intelligence to do document analysis. So the hundreds of hours that might have been spent analysing documents can now be done much more cheaply and quickly by computers.