Family Law

KIM BEATSON, Partner, Anthony Gold

At a Resolution national conference some years ago we held a debate on whether there should be more transparency in children cases. One of the speakers was Jim Parton, former Chair of Families Need Fathers. He began by reminding us that divorce lawyers are lucky to hold the mandate in their field. Although we hold ourselves out as specialists in children and financial matters, it does not follow naturally from our training. He went on to say that we should respect the mandate and treat it with special care; the implication being that we could not guarantee retaining it.

This polite word of warning may not surprise most Resolution lawyers. For many years we have espoused the virtue of holistic education and soft skills training as essential for good practice and just as important as black letter legal knowledge. Resolution's involvement in mediation training and our exclusive provision of collaborative law training is a recognition of the fact that other skills are necessary and that family lawyers are not necessarily the best equipped professionals to help our clients at every stage in the separation process.

To read the rest of this article, see September [2010] Family Law journal (link for online subscribers who have logged in). To log on to Family Law journal Online or to request a free trial click here.

__________________________________________________________________

Family Law is the leading practitioner journal, ensuring all family law professionals keep up with the latest developments and their impact on practice. Each issue contains the latest news of legislative change, authoritative case reports, invaluable articles and news items written and compiled by experts for the practising family law professional.