Unbundling: Solicitors Deliver What Clients Need - Family Law journal

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.

Read the full article here.