Family Law

Jordan Publishing is delighted to announce that John Cornwell, of Dawson Cornwell, has won the Family Law Awards 2012 Outstanding Contribution to the field of Family Law.

John will collect his award at the Family Law Awards ceremony on 10 October 2012 at the London Hilton hotel on Park Lane, Mayfair which will be hosted by last year's winner of the Outstanding Achievement award, District Judge Nicholas Crichton.

John has dedicated his working life to the development and progress of family law. In 1982 he founded the Solicitors' Family Law Association (now Resolution), drafting a code of conduct that has guided family law solicitors to practice to the highest standards.

He co-founded Dawson Cornwell and Co in 1972. Forty years on, it is an established family law firm, employing over forty people and specialising in all aspects of matrimonial and children law. John is an acknowledged expert on pensions on divorce.

John was also instrumental in the development of mediation in England and Wales having co-founded the Family Mediator's Association (FMA) in 1988.

John has been a Deputy District Judge of the Principal Registry of the Family Division of the High Court since 1986. From 1993 to 1999, he was a member of the Law Society Family Law Committee. In 1999, he was appointed Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Wolfson College, Oxford.

Commenting on the news of his award, John said: "It was just 30 years ago that I suddenly had a very good idea. I had been plagued by some really irritating letters from other solicitors (mostly in the litigation departments to their firms) whilst at the same time having perfectly sensible correspondence with many others. I thought that I would write to the good ones to get them to meet. I wrote to about 50 and to my amazement 35 of them came.

"There was immediate enthusiasm for a formal organisation which would promulgate a Code of Practice. We set about drafting it and although it has been revised a bit, I am happy to say that it's essence survives and has been influential in the Law Society's protocol. Its spirit is summarised in Part 1 of the Family Law Act 1996.

"SFLA changed it's name of course (I didn't mind too much) and Resolution has become a large and extremely effective force for good over a greatly expanded field of family law. I am very proud to have been its founder."

Jordan Publishing would like to congratulate John and thank everyone who nominated him. If you wish to attend the awards ceremony, bookings can be made through our website.

Join the conversation about the awards on Twitter by using the hashtag:  #familylawawards.