Consultation on divorce law reform began with the Law Commission's report in 1988.

This was followed by a green paper and a white paper in April 1995, and a green paper on legal aid in May 1995.

It is expected that the Lord Chancellor will present a Bill on divorce law reform following the Queen's Speech in Parliament this week.Last week, at two conferences in London, one organised by the Solicitors Family Law Association, the Lord Chancellor showed how his mind had moved during the consultation process.

So how has the Lord Chancellor responded to the main points raised by SFLA in response to the white paper on divorce law reform?-- The ground for divorce.

SFLA has supported, as the best option, the sole ground for divorce being the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage as demonstrated by the sole fact of a period of 12 months for reflection and consideration.

The Lord Chancellor has made it clear that this is the minimum and best period, on the basis that a year is a long time in a child's life.

SFLA believes there should be the opportunity for the court to abridge the period in quite exceptional and limited circumstances.

The Lord Chancellor does not agree, believing that this would detract from the importance of the period for reflection and consideration.

However, he is absolutely clear that the retention of fault as a ground for divorce does not support the institution of marriage.-- Settling of arrangements.

SFLA prefers the recommendations of the Law Commission that making arrangements should not be a pre-condition of divorce, but that the court should have power to postpone the divorce order in limited circumstances where to do so would safeguard the interests of those prejudiced by the divorce.

The Lord Chancellor believes firmly that that the arrangements need to be settled prior to a divorce order.-- The information session.

All agree that there is a need for divorcing or separating couples to be given consistent objective information about the divorce process and the options available to them.

Originally, the Lord Chancellor had proposed the idea of the group interview, which met with substantial opposition.

It was feared that this would provide a public admission of marital problems that most consider to be a very private issue, and in rural areas and small towns might result in the other spouse finding out about the problems for the first time.

The Lord Chancellor now acknowledges the difficulty involved in the degree of publicity that might be involved at this early stage.

He has suggested that alternatives will be considered during the course of the pilot study, eg one to one interviews with a lawyer, mediator or counsellor, and the use and provision of videos, supplemented by the possibility of telephone enquiries.-- Mediation.

SFLA has always promoted mediation seeing it as one of the ways in which divorcing or separating couples can choose to address the consequences of their relationship breakdown.The Lord Chancellor emphasises that his proposals contain a presumption in favour of mediation which should be considered in all but the most urgent cases before commencing litigation.

He states specifically that people will not be forced to mediate but encouraged to give it a fair chance -- by definition, mediation cannot be forced upon unwilling participants.This has gone some way to allay the fears of SFLA that the proposals in the green paper on legal aid were designed to make mediation compulsory by denying legal aid to those who did not wish to attend and by giving those who did attend the benefit of no statutory charge over any assets recovered.

-- Availability of legal advice.

SFLA was concerned that the thrust of the legal aid green paper was to discourage the use of lawyers and to deprive those going through the mediation process of the benefit of legal advice.

The Lord Chancellor has made it absolutely clear that he does not regard his proposals as anti-lawyer, and that most couples are likely to need separate legal advice in support of mediation, both before, during and after the mediation process.

-- Limited legal aid certificate.

The Lord Chancellor is interested in SFLA's proposal for a limited legal aid certificate which will entitle the solicitor to advise the client by providing initial legal advice on rights and responsibilities, specialist legal advice during the mediation process when required, advice on any memorandum of understanding reached in the mediation, and drawing up an enforceable agreement.

The limited certificate could be extended if appropriate but not to representation in legal proceedings nor to parallel lawyer negotiations.