We are seeking a Child Law Specialist solicitor NQ+ or very experienced or both to join our child law team.
The successful candidate will either a be a member of the Law Society children panel or they will have ambitions to join. (and we will support them to do this)
We already have one of the strongest child law teams in the south-west. This includes three current members of the Law Society child law panel and two former members. We regularly represent parents, children, grandparents and undertake local authority agency work.
Our progressive niche practice is owned and run by Ian Walker who is one of our children panel members – so you won’t have to worry about our commitment to children law! (In the last 10 years quite a number of firms – some of whom have had large and reputable child law teams – have surrendered their legal aid contracts).(We are also a real living wage employer).
We are a dynamic and growing practice. Ian is the Chair of the Devon Region of Resolution and has been Highly Commended in the practice manager of the year category in the 2019 Law Society Excellence Awards.
There is an opportunity to work with and learn from our existing team. This includes Kim Stradling who is one of the leading child law solicitors in the south-west.
Our IT structure is cloud-based and easily supports flexible working and homeworking and paperless working. Flexible/smart working is positively encouraged.
We hold Lexcel accreditation. We have the practice support you would expect including LEXIS PSL and software to create our own electronic bundles.
We are also happy to consider both fee share consultancy.
As the legal market develops it is becoming increasingly obvious that niche practice’s such as ourselves enjoy a competitive advantage over traditional high Street practices.
We attract quality work from across our office network which is in Exeter, Taunton, Torquay, Honiton, Yeovil and Weston-super-Mare. This is a fantastic opportunity with long-term prospects.
If you don’t already work in Devon and Somerset, you are really missing out, and this is a fantastic opportunity to improve your quality of life.
The successful candidate:
You will be based on the East Devon side of Exeter.
Although we have multiple locations to see clients, we are all based at the same office – which is the central location in our office network.
This means they need to come into the office at least once a week so that they are fully part of the team (no competing and divisive branch cultures for us). However, there is very ample scope for flexible/smart working.
You will probably be primarily responsible for our Somerset care work.
Our practice is very much built around its team.
To find out more about our practice visit our website at http://ian-walker-family-law.local/ Please send your CV and covering letter in confidence to Ian Walker at [email protected]
We have one of the strongest child law teams in the South West, which includes 3 current and 2 lapsed Children Panel Members. There is between 80 – 100 years of children panel membership between our team!
We regularly receive instructions to act for children and as agents for a local authority.
We remain committed to Child Law Legal Aid work.
We are now looking to add to our team.
We are looking for an ambitious solicitor with ambitions to join our equity.
Person specification:
Genuine long term opportunities.
We have Lexsis PSL and Library
There are definite partnership opportunities for the right person.
Please send your CV and covering letter in confidence to Ian at [email protected]
Ian Walker Family Law and Mediation Solicitors are now also Family Law Solicitors in Torquay
The last 18 months has been an exceptional period for Ian Walker Family Law and Mediation Solicitors.
In this period, we have:
Whilst less visible, we have made changes to our website and to our procedures so that we have improved out transparency about legal pricing/charges and our systems to provide and outstanding service to our clients.
As part of these changes we have incorporated innovative technology into our website to assist new clients to better engage with us and to improve what we are able to provide at initial meeting. We have also introduced a pay as you go and wider fixed fee service.
The final step in this period of growth is the opening of our Torquay Family Law Office on the 03 June 2019.
Our Torquay Family Law Office is conveniently located in Lymington Road, at the Torquay Business Centre.
We selected this as a location because it is easily accessible from all parts of Torquay. Torquay Business Centre is a relatively short distance from Torquay County Court. It is also reasonably convenient for Torbay Council social services meetings at Union House.
We also have the benefit of being able to offer free parking (subject to availability and normally pre-booking) and good disabled access.
Our Torquay solicitors team will be led by Nicole Phare.
Nicole qualified as a specialist family law solicitor in 2005 and specialises in both children law and divorce.
Nicole enjoyed a long career in family law before qualifying as a solicitor and most of her career has been spent working for different practices in Torbay
Nicole will be supported in building our Torquay family law solicitors office by our director Ian Walker and highly experienced solicitors David Howell-Richardson and Sandy Powell.
Both Ian and Sandy have had careers which have included working for South Devon/Torquay practices and between us, we have assisted many Torbay families over the years.
We are conscious that over the years the number of solicitors firms who undertake complex children work in Torquay has significantly reduced.
Before we opened our Torquay solicitors office there were only two firms of solicitors with offices in Torquay which included members of the Law Society Children Panel and which still offer a legally aided service.
By opening an office in Torquay we have taken this number up to 3.
From our Torquay family law solicitors office we will be assisting clients both with children law and divorce.
We are a team of specialist divorce lawyers in Torquay. We will be offering a divorce service from our Torquay family law office.
At Ian Walker Family Law and Mediation Solicitors we are committed members of the family law solicitors organisation Resolution. Ian Walker is now in his third (three year) term as the elected chair of the Devon region of resolution. Ian is also a member of Resolution’s national Dispute Resolution Committee which promotes innovation and best practice in resolving family Law and divorce cases out of court. He has previously served as both a member of the Law Society Family Law Committee and as a trustee of the Family Mediators Association. One of Ian’s achievements was the introduction of collaborative family law in Devon.
We are committed to assisting our divorce clients to resolve their cases in a principled and fair way which focuses on achieving good outcomes but ensures that the needs of the couple’s children are not lost in (often unnecessary) adult disputes.
If you believe we can assist – please do get in touch.
In six and half years we have grown from nothing to being a leading family law solicitors practice and mediation service in the south-west.
We have achieved our growth through the innovative use of technology. Are use of technology is both client facing and also within the platform through which we work. We make good use of cloud technology. We use other innovative software and we subscribe to the best available family law practice support service.
We now have SRA authorised offices in Honiton, Exeter, Torquay and Weston-super-Mare as well as consulting rooms we access in Yeovil and Bridgwater.
Our team consists of both employed solicitors and fee share consultant’s.
Whilst on the one hand we intend to consolidate the advances we have made over the last 18 months, on the other hand, we are always open to new opportunities.
We are therefore ever open to hear from outstanding family lawyers who might be based in Devon and Somerset slightly further afield who are interested in joining an innovative, collegiate, noncorporate but highly professional and expert team. Our team has grown around its people and being open to new opportunities and if you share our vision and would like to join our journey then we would like to hear from you. (Equity opportunities are available). Join our Family Law Solicitors in Torquay.
I am a Solicitor who has specialised in Child Law since qualification in 1992. I was admitted to the Law Society Children Panel in 1996. My practice has one of the most experienced teams of child law specialist solicitors in the South West.
Over the years I have represented many parents and grandparents in Court Proceedings brought by Social Services. The Court now expects most cases to be finished in 26 weeks or less. This means that the window of time for parents and grandparents to make the right choices so that they will succeed is very small. Good decisions need to be made at the very start of a case.
No Solicitor who represents parents and grandparents in Social Services cases can claim that they have succeeded in keeping children with their parents/grandparents in every case. Sometimes the problems are simply too great to overcome in the timescale of the court process. Sometimes clients are unable to follow our advice or panic and switch off.
We always try hard to make sure that our clients give themselves the best chance of achieving the best realistic outcome and that their case is clearly heard by the Court. Over the years we have helped clients to achieve some excellent outcomes.
Being taken to Court always involves the risk of a bad outcome. This is because decisions are made by someone else. The best way to succeed is always to avoid ending up in Court in the first place.
There is no substitute to seeking specific advice from an experienced Solicitor. The following is a good place to start:
Be Honest. This might sometimes seem like a bad idea. Surely it’s better to pretend things were not as bad as they were? No. If you are open; show you understand where things have gone wrong, you are well on the way to putting things right. If you lie, chances are you will be found out. You will then be someone who cannot be trusted, and potentially in serious trouble. Often the lie is worse than what is being lied about.
Don’t be horrible or rude to Social Services. They are doing their job. They are people too. They are motivated to protect children. All you are doing is making things harder for yourself.
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2017 was a really good year for Ian Walker Family Law and Mediation Solicitors, but 2018 promises to be even better. Below is what I can tell you about our plans for 2018, but first, the highlights of 2017 (in no particular order):
Thanks to all who have helped us get this far. I am looking forward to 2018
We know that Christmas is not a happy time that everyone. Indeed it can be very lonely and depressing. Some parents are for various reasons unable to spend time with their children on the main days of the Christmas holiday or even at all.
In the run-up to Christmas we deal with a surge in cases where separated parents are in dispute over the arrangements through which children will spend time with each parent over the Christmas holiday. Here are some hopefully helpful thoughts.
Children don’t want to see the adults around them arguing. Children want to enjoy everything that is going on. They will quite naturally want to see all of the important adults in their lives if possible. If they are taking part in a school play or similar performance children will normally want this to be watched by their important family members. Most importantly of all (again) children do not want to witness arguments; children wants to have fun and be happy.
If it has not been possible to agree arrangements for children to spend time with the adults who they do not live with during the year, then it is unlikely that there are going to be any significant changes agreed for the Christmas period. Equally, if the amount of time that the non-resident parent spends with their child is quite limited, then it is unlikely that it is going to be agreed that they can have loads ofadditional time over the Christmas holiday. Anyadditional time that can be agreed is likely to be along the lines of what is already taking place. Asking for more than is realistic will probably be counter-productive and will only lead to arguments.
If separated parents cannot get on with each other normally, then it is unrealistic to expect significant change over Christmas. Moving between one parent and another can be very stressful for children as well as for their parents. Sometimes the situation can be improved if a family member or friend can on a regular or even specific occasionassist with the move between one parent and the other.
The best time to discuss the arrangements for Christmas is in the spring of the year before. This allows ample time to undertake mediation. If agreements cannot be reached then an application would need to be made to the Court. Securing court time is not always easy and if there is a dispute over the Christmas arrangements, if an application is made to the court in the middle of December it is unlikely that the case will be able to get before a Judge in such a way that decisions can properly be made. The later a court application is left before Christmas, the less likely it is that a satisfactory outcome will be achieved
Courts make decisions based upon evidence. If an agreement has been reached between parents and it can be proven that an agreement existed then the starting point of the Court is likely to be based upon making the parents keep to their agreements (unless there is a good reason for change)rather than starting completely from scratch
Some parents sadly do not see their children or have their time with their children restricted because there are issues about safety. Examples of this can be where there has been domestic abuse or even abusive or unsafe behaviour involving the children. Sometimes the parent with whom the child lives places the question of safety to one side in order to try to be nice to the other for Christmas or because they want to give their children what they think their children want. Risks are unlikely to diminish simply because it is Christmas and if a parent places themselves or their children in an unsafe situation then they could be unfortunate consequences both with some problem arising and also with the possibility that social services could become involved with the family because of concerns over a parents failure to protect.
The best arrangements for children are ones where their parents are able to communicate well with each other and where both parents have confidence that the other will deliver their side of the agreement. The best arrangements are where parents are able to trust each other. Unless there is a significant safety issue the best way to achieve the best arrangements is through the parents talking to each other and finding a way to put past difficulties behind them. Mediation can be an excellent forum for achieving this. The starting point to a successful mediation is both parents accepting that there is a problem that needs to be resolved and both wishing to do something to resolve the problem.
Where advice is required it is always a good idea to do this as soon as it becomes clear that the problem will not easily be solved. In our experience problems do not easily go away if nothing is done to try and solve them. Reasonable arrangements for children over the Christmas period often include Christmas Day being shared or children spending Christmas with one family one year and with another the next. However, all situations are different. Getting specific legal advice is usually a good idea.
We are a Firm of Solicitors specialising in family law and a mediation service that is based in Honiton in East Devon. We also have branch offices in Taunton. Our mediation service is contracted with the legal aid agency to offer legally aided mediation in Honiton Exeter and Taunton. If you qualify for legal aid for mediation then the mediation will be free of charge.We are members of the family solicitors organisation Resolution. Ian Walker is currently the elected chair of the Devon region Of Resolution
I first achieved membership of the Law Society Children Panel in 1996. The scheme is now called the Law Society Child Law Accreditation Scheme.
Membership of the Children Panel used to be for 5 year terms. It is now 3 years at a time. The accreditation and reaccreditation process is rigorous and the current reaccreditation process is perhaps the most stringent yet. This is important because Children Panel Membership means that I am able to represent vulnerable children in court proceedings.
Membership means that I can genuinely call myself a child law expert.
I was therefore very pleased to receive my latest accreditation certificate today. (below)
That’s 21 years continuous membership, which will be 24 years when panel membership is up for renewal again.
I am also a Child Law Arbitrator and am qualified to make legally binding decisions in disputes between parents.
With Kim Stradling, we have two children panel members in our team. If all goes to plan Carrie Meikle should hopefully be able to gain membership by the end of 2018.
Since founding Ian Walker Family Law and Mediation Solicitors in 2013 we have grown from just me to the largest family team based in our part of East Devon and comparable to/ bigger than the family teams of some much larger firms based in Exeter and Taunton.
Kim Stradling joining us will really add to the strength and depth of our team.
Kim has joined us from Devon Solicitors Everys – where she was a partner and head of the family department
We assist clients from our offices and consulting rooms in Honiton, Taunton and Exeter.
The team now consists of:
Member Children Panel, Resolution Accredited Specialist, Arbitrator, (An Arbitrator is a private judge who is able to make legally binding decisions) Family Mediator both Law Society and Family Mediation Council Accredited Civil Mediator Member of Devon and Somerset Mediation Panel
Member Children Panel, Resolution Accredited Specialist, Family Mediator
Resolution Accredited Specialist
From April applicants seeking legal aid as victims of domestic abuse will be allowed to use use evidence up to 60 months old.
This change follows the Court of Appeal’s in a recent decision in a case which held that the original 24 month time limit was invalid.
This is great news for victims of abuse and their children.
Abusers do not become no risk if they do nothing to address their behaviour for 2 years! shame the rules were so arbitrary in the first place
Apparently the changes are only interim and will be replaced by further regulations following discussions domestic violence groups. We will have to wait and see. Some progress for now anyway.
Our new Solicitor Carrie Meikle who is based at our office in Honiton. If you need assistance please give Carrie a call
Often there are problems with child contact after a parent has fled domestic abuse. Other times social services become involved.
Myself, Karen and Carrie have considerable experience of successfully assisting clients in these types of case. I have been a member of the Law Society Children Panel for 20 years this year. If you need help, give us a call.
In April 2016 our team was joined by Carrie Meikle.
Carrie Meikle is a specialist family law solicitor who qualified as a solicitor in 2010.
Carrie grew up in Taunton. She trained as a solicitor with another East Devon practice before moving to Plymouth. Carrie decided to specialise as a family solicitor when she qualified. Carrie has gained good experience in Plymouth with Plymouth Solicitors, Wolferstans and Howard & Over.
Carrie is going to be a real asset to our team. She brings with her some very good experience.I know this because I know the solicitors she has worked with.
The team at Ian Walker Family Law and Mediation Solicitors now consists of (left to right in the picture) Danielle Coombes – trainee legal executive; Ian Walker – solicitor; Karen Elliott – chartered legal executive and Carrie Meikle – solicitor. We are all lawyers specialising in family law. (more…)
