James Pirrie

James Pirrie is a director at Family Law in Partnership. He helps clients to take control of the issues that affect them and focus their arrangements on the needs of any children. He specialises in complex financial issues and non-adversarial and cost effective approaches to divorce including mediation, arbitration and collaborative law. James is recognised throughout the country for his leadership in alternative dispute resolution. Notwithstanding this, some cases require court involvement and James has a strong track record of helping clients achieve a successful outcome in the Court system.

As a leader for positive change in family law, James was instrumental in the introduction of collaborative practice to the UK and is a Resolution collaborative specialist. He led Resolution’s programme, ‘Parenting after Parting’, to heighten lawyers’ awareness of positive co-parenting.

James was one of the first tranche of family lawyers and judges to train as a family arbitrator. As a member of both the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Institute of Family Law Arbitrators James is able to arbitrate financial disputes in family cases. He has been involved with a number of arbitrations, including the matter reported as S v S [2014] EWHC7 (Fam). James is also a member of FamilyArbitrator.

In 2014 James was named winner of the John Cornwell award which recognises members of Resolution, the family lawyers group, who have gone above and beyond the norm in their work to support separating families. He was also shortlisted in the Law Society Excellence Awards 2014 for the award Gazette Legal Personality of the Year and in the Family Law Awards 2014 for the Cornwell Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Family Law. The leading legal directories Chambers UK and Legal 500 UK have listed James as a top ranked, leading individual in the field of family law for many years with The Legal 500 UK 2015 also naming him a leading mediator – “James Pirrie is another ace at the boutique firm“. Naming James as a prominent figure in the family and matrimonial field Citywealth Leaders List 2015 describes James as “smart and very able“.

Chambers UK 2014 describes James as “a trail blazer in dispute resolution and thinking outside the box. He really understands family dynamics and really tries to cut the Gordian knot.” The 2015 edition notes “he is ahead of the times with his initiative…a renowned litigator…at the forefront of dispute resolution” with the 2016 edition praising James for his “deep ADR expertise” and innovation.