Solicitors given nod of approval

FAMILY LAW: report praises practitioners' handling of divorce cases and costs

Family practitioners are doing a good job for clients, help to avoid costly and pointless disputes and are not motivated solely by profit, research published this month has said.

The research also challenged the validity of government policies seeking to reform family law, which it said were based on the assumption that lawyers promoted acrimony and drove up costs, and that their role in the divorce process should be cut.

The independent report conducted by Oxford academics John Eekelaar, Mavis Maclean and Sarah Beinart, undertook detailed research into 22 divorce cases.

The researchers said they found that family lawyers rarely engaged in 'point scoring' and generally discouraged clients from pursuing costly and damaging matters.

Practitioners also took time to explain matters to clients to avoid misunderstanding and encouraged couples to discuss issues, particularly those involving children, it found.

The research also pointed out that for some clients, solicitors were the only remaining channel of communication for couples.

The researchers found that solicitors frequently sought to reduce costs: 'Lawyers were preoccupied with returning tasks to clients where feasible...

and were busy avoiding costly and pointless disputes.'

However, the research criticised government policies for reforming family law, which it said might have taken a different form 'had a fuller and more up-to-date picture of the work of [lawyers] been available to policy makers'.

Peter Watson-Lee, chairman of the Law Society's family law committee, said the report 'vindicated' what family practitioners have been saying for years.

'If I had three wishes, the first would be that the Lord Chancellor sat down and read the report,' he said.

Rosemary Carter, chairman of the Solicitors Family Law Association, said the research showed what the profession had long known - which was that solicitors were vital in helping couples deal with family breakdown.

She also urged the government to take notice of the report.

Sue Allen