Lawyers back protocol to defuse family law conflict

Practice: accreditation linked to compliance with guidance

Family lawyers this week gave a warm welcome to the long-awaited family law protocol, a set of best practice guidelines developed by the Law Society in association with the Solicitors Family Law Association (SFLA), Lord Chancellor's Department and Legal Services Commission.The protocol aims to make family law less confrontational and acrimonious for the involved parties, particularly children in divorce cases.

It encourages solicitors - who must comply with the protocol to gain accreditation from the SFLA and Law Society family law panels - to explore the scope for mediation, encourage parties to put the interests of children first, and to keep costs as low as possible.

Peter Watson-Lee, chairman of the Society's family law committee, described the protocol as one of the biggest developments in family law for many years.'The protocol has been drafted by solicitors, for solicitors, and it has been endorsed by so many groups that we are confident of its future influence,' he said.

SFLA chairwoman Jane Craig said: 'For years we have been emphasising the need for family solicitors to be non-aggressive and non-confrontational, and the message has now reached the mainstream.'Elsewhere, speaking at the SFLA's annual conference in Liverpool last weekend, Ms Craig warned that the abolition of legal aid and the new system of graduated fees was creating an 'acute' shortage of good family legal advice in many areas of the country.

Victoria MacCallum