Family Law Arbitration: A better way to Justice? – Lecture to the Worshipful Company of Arbitrators

Master's Lecture given by Sir Hugh Bennett  6th April 2016 Norton Rose Fulbright

You may feel that the title that I have chosen for my talk this evening 'Family Law Arbitration: A better way to Justice?' is perhaps rather prosaic. But it is a question that practitioners in family law are going to have to ask themselves more and more for the reasons that will appear from my talk. The title of course begs the question 'better than what other ways?' Mediation? Collaborative law? Litigation?

I shall concentrate on comparing family financial arbitration with litigation about family financial disputes. I shall exclude from my talk mediation and collaborative law for two reasons: (1) I know very little about either mechanisms; but (2) I know enough to say that although both may well have an important part to play in any particular case mediation and collaborative law have one significant weakness – neither guarantee that the dispute will end – it all depends upon the parties reaching an agreement. If they do not much time and money may have been wasted. By contrast both arbitration...

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