Shoreditch House Press Release

Family Judges and Lawyers commit to take Bitterness and Cost out of Divorce

6 Years on, London Family Lawyers Celebrate the Success of Collaborative Law

Keynote Address by:

Lord Kerr
Justice of the Supreme Court
The RT Hon the Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore

Shoreditch House
Wednesday 7th October 2009 6PM

www.londoncollaborativelaw.com

Two hundred and fifty of London's leading family lawyers, judges and other family professionals with gather at Shoreditch House on the 7th October to celebrate the success of collaborative law in London and to hear a keynote address by Lord Kerr, former Lord Chief Justic of Northen Ireland, who was sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court on October 1st.

Conflict resolution starts in the family. Children learn how to resolve conflicy within the family environment. It follows that how conflict is managed on divorce will have a profound effect on how children deal with conflict in later life. Collaborative law aims to minimize conflict and allows couples to achieve a child centred divorce.

As Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills' break-up demonstrated, divorce can be brutal. Guy Ritchie and Madonna showed, there is a better way which brings with it the possibility of an amicable and child centred divorce.

A growing number of England's leading family lawyers are committed to cutting out the bitterness of traditional "trial by battle" divorce through the innovative collaborative law process.

At a time when many family practitioners are calling for law reform, when the Family Justice System is under-funded, when the courts are struggling to cope with a depressing deluge in family work and when some Court delays are scandalous, collaborative law presents a constructive, quicker and more cost effective alternative to an adversarial system which is simply not working for many families.

Collaborative law cuts out the courts, and relies instead on a couple dealing with their break-up in a practical manner through co-operative and respectful negotiation.

Viewed with scepticism by some on its arrival in the UK six years ago, collaborative law is now an established part of the legal landscape and is increasingly the option of choice for those contemplating divorce or separation.

High profile collaborative divorces such as Robbie Williams' illustrate that the process is particularly suited to celebrity and high net worth cases. It offers clients absolute privacy, something which is no longer available in the family courts.

Lord Kerr is the first supreme Court Justice to address a meeting of collaborative professionals. His experience of conflict resolution in Northen Ireland provides him with an excellent platform on which to comment on a form of ADR which is designed to minimize conflict within the family.

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