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Anonymous for a reason? Perhaps you can enlighten us as to what you mean by "settling"? Do you mean a family-focused agreement made without duress, entered into voluntarily, in full knowledge of the facts,applying principled negotiation techniques? Or perhaps you mean one where the parties have negotiated positionally, experienced unaddressed power imbalances, have run out of money and time, and are worried about the effect on their children?

The reasons are clear to everyone in the family law industry. Many lawyers, and especially those in practices which used to run a family LSC contract, are worried about their own targets. They are no longer referring to mediation. Judges aren't requiring FM1s where they should require them. The public believed the media stories earlier in the year about the government cutting legal aid for family matters. And punters still don't understand mediation, so are not looking for it to help them.