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.
On the 11 and 12 October 2018 travelled to Nottingham to attend Resolution’s annual Dispute Resolution Conference. The aim of the conference is to bring to together family law experts in dispute resolution to share their experiences and to discuss and learn about the latest ideas for innovation and promoting best practice.
The Resolution Dispute Resolution Conference is organised by Resolution’s Dispute Resolution Committee, of which I am a member. (Although I hasten to add that I was not on the conference organising subcommittee).
There were around 160 – 180 delegates from all around the country. It is always enjoyable to catch up with friends and colleagues and to meet other like-minded professionals. The majority of the delegates are either mediators, collaborative family lawyers or family arbitrators or like myself all 3 (as well as being practising specialist family law solicitors and barristers).
Amongst the topics discussed were promoting collaborative family law as the normal way of family law practice.
Sadly we are not quite there yet, with collaborative family law being the normal way of family law practice with some lawyers practising within family law still taking a litigious approach which can exacerbate family difficulties – and which is avoidant of the use of family mediation, collaborative family law and arbitration
Other topics included; Innovation in family law/mediation/collaborative law/arbitration; better preparing clients for stressful meetings including by encouraging clients to make use of techniques such as mindfulness and by accessing counselling; working together with complimentary professionals (such as financial advisers and children experts) and integrating working together in different aspects of practice; better assisting families to implement children court orders achieved through court proceedings (often with high conflict) or mediation and assisting couples to better work together in order to avoid returning to court.
The Henry Brown Lecture (named after Henry Brown – Henry is a pioneer of the use of family mediation in the UK and who incidentally trained me as both a family mediator in 1996 and a civil/commercial mediator – Henry is now enjoying his retirement) was given by Amita Sehgal who is a couple psychoanalytic psychotherapist accredited by the British Psychoanalytic Council through the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology. This considered the impacts of dealing with stress and anger and steps that could be taken to minimise the negative impacts of these.
The highlight of the conference was undoubtably the keynote address given by Jo Berry and Patrick Magee of Building Bridges for Peace.
Jo Berry is the daughter of Sir Anthony Berry MP who was amongst those killed in the bombing of the Grand Hotel, Brighton by the IRA (Irish Republican Army) on October 12, 1984. Patrick Magee is the man who planted the bomb and who was convicted and sent to prison for that act.
Jo described how within 2 days of her father being killed she resolved to find something positive out of what had happened and to bring meaning to and even understand those who had killed her father.
Jo and Patrick met 16 years later after Patrick was released from prison as part of the Northern Ireland peace process. The charity Building Bridges for Peace was launched in Brighton in October 2009 on the 25th anniversary of the bombing.
Building Bridges for Peace works to enable divided communities and the general public to explore and better understand the roots of war, terrorism and violence. Jo and Patrick promote dialogue and mediation as the means to peace.
Jo Berry and Pat Magee have given talks in Palestine, Lebanon, Rwanda and throughout the UK. There is a quote on the Building Bridges for Peace website http://www.buildingbridgesforpeace.org/ from Terry Waite CBE which is worth repeating;
To be a subject of a grievous wrong is always wounding and painful and can frequently provoke anger.
However, anger, if allowed to fester is like a cancer of the soul. It does more harm to those who hold it than against those whom it is held.
Jo Berry knows from personal experience what it is to have to face deep suffering as her father was blown up in a IRA bomb. She has let go of personal need for revenge and empathised with Patrick Magee, the man responsible for planting the bomb.
To hear her speak alongside the one who killed her father is a living demonstration of the transforming power of reconciliation when two people who have been on different sides truly listen and can see each other’s humanity, an example this sad world so desperately need. Terry Waite CBE – humanitarian and former hostage
It was particularly inspiring to hear Jo and Patrick speak on a day that was in fact the 34th anniversary of the bombing.
Terry Waite’s words encapsulate the importance of the work of Jo and Patrick not only in the theatre of political conflict but also in the theatre of personal conflict.
As family law practitioners we are very often assisting clients who have been wronged and who are angry with their former partner who they feel has caused them that wrong.
The anger and pain is very often a two-way thing. Unresolved anger can play out in making it much harder to reach objectively reasonable outcomes and can be compounded by further anger generated through the process of divorce/separation and having orders/outcomes imposed. A couple’s children can be caught within this conflict and this can be very damaging indeed. This can play out in children being psychologically harmed, losing contact with one parent or family members (sometimes with parental alienation) or not receiving good role modelling to equip them to deal with resolving disputes in their own lives in the best way.
I would strongly recommend that if you ever have the opportunity to listen to Jo and Patrick speak then you should take this up. What they have achieved together, both on a personal level as well as through their wider work is truly inspiring.
The delegates to whom I spoke, all left thinking about how they could better assist their clients through their own personal conflicts.
I left the conference re-energised that as a practice we are clearly on the right track in terms of how we are trying to assist our clients and over the next few months we will be reflecting further upon how we can make improvements to our service and to supporting our team to do this.
I am already looking forward to the 2019 Resolution Dispute Resolution Conference.
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
In 2017 the family Family Solicitors organisation, Resolution published a briefing paper on the future of family law called : Law and Justice briefing ; The current landscape and direction of travel
Here is a link to the paper: http://www.resolution.org.uk/editorial.asp?page_id=1292 but it is in the members only section.
For those who don’t know, I have been a member of Resolution for over 20 years and I am the longstanding Chair of the Devon Region. I am also a member of the national Dispute Resolution Committee.
The paper was written by my old friend Angela Lake-Carroll who I first met nearly 20 years ago when I was one of a handful of solicitors invited by the Legal Aid Agency to participate in their FAINS: Family Advice and Information Networks project. Angela is well respected in the family law community and also a member of the Dispute Resolution Committee.
In summary, the paper analyses the market for the demand for and the delivery of family law (and mediation) services and discusses threats and opportunities.
Threats will include:
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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
The Family Mediation Council (FMC ) is now the governing body for mediation. It is made up of 6 member organizations.
I received an email news update at end of March 2017
The FMC report that there are 982 mediators registered with FMC of whom only 687 who are accredited.
Last year I reported that they estimated that this number was around 800 accredited family mediators – so this means that there has been a reduction.
This means that there are only 687 mediators who are able to sign off Family Court Application Forms after a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting.
To put that in context; Resolution has some 6000 members – some 160 odd are based in Devon, but there are many more solicitors and ,legal executives and paralegals working in the world of family law who are not resolution members.
The number of accredited mediators is small and pitifully small in comparison to the numbers of lawyers and non-lawyers who have completed mediation training courses over the last 20 years. I would estimate that 000’s have trained as mediators, but have never found enough work to gain accreditation, let alone be able to make a living.
We all know that Court proceedings are very expensive and slow. Most clients are exhausted and deflated by the outcome.
The cost of a contested court process can easily be £15,000 – £20,000 per person. Dealing with a divorce and financial issues can easily take over a year.This is unaffordable or unacceptably costly for most families.
Traditional legal practice can also stoke mistrust and bad relations between separating couples. This can be very damaging for any children stuck in the middle.
But traditional Family Mediation cannot guarantee agreement. Clients can be lost without legal advice or their solicitors. Financial disclosure can be poor. If there is no agreement cost and time have been wasted.
Collaborative Law has not been the answer.
We are very pleased to announce that Carrie Meikle was awarded the prestigious Resolution Accredited Specialist Family Solicitor status in December 2016.
Carrie deals with all areas of family law, but her two chosen specialisms for the accreditation are representing clients where there has been domestic abuse and also in respect of cases about child arrangements.
Carrie joined us in April 2016. We are very committed to the ongoing training of our team and supporting team members in gaining accreditations. One of our first decisions when reviewing Carrie’s ongoing training plan, was to support her in applying for the accreditation standard as soon as possible.
There are set points in the year when applications can be submitted. Carrie’s accreditation in December was therefore the earliest point after joining us when Carrie was able to demonstrate her expertise.
Resolution specialists are members who have chosen to test their skills and expertise through a rigorous assessment of their knowledge, abilities and way that they work with you and other people.
Resolution specialists are proven experts in a range of areas of the law arising from family breakdown.
To coincide with Resolution Good Divorce Week we are launching our own innovative Family Law Mediation-Arbitration (med-arb) Scheme.
Sorting out financial arrangements connected with divorce can be painfully slow and horrendously expensive. If the case proceeds through a court process costs can easily exceed £15,000 each and the whole process from walking into a solicitors office for the first time to obtaining a financial order can take over a year – sometimes well over a year
Mediation can help couples to reach agreements much quicker and at less cost – but mediation does not guarantee that an agreement will be reached. If the mediation fails this adds to the cost and to the delay – which is why many families – particularly where there is a limited budget decide not to mediate.
I am one of a handful of practitioners who are quadruple qualified as a Solicitor, Family Mediator, Civil Mediator and Arbitrator. What I have done, is to work out a scheme – a process – which combines the security to clients of receiving legal advice and representation, the benefits of reaching an agreement through mediation together with the certainty of outcome that can be achieved with arbitration.
Most clients are familiar with what a solicitor does (advise and represent) and what a mediator does (assist the couple on a neutral basis to negotiate – and hopefully also to improve their working relationship).
Arbitration is a different form of resolving disputes. It is relatively new in the context of family breakdown. Essentially the arbitrator is a private judge who will make a legally binding decision.
In our Family Law Mediation-Arbitration Scheme we have worked at a process where the solicitors gather together financial disclosure and advise their clients on the parameters and fairness of what a settlement could be. This is what solicitors are really good at. Obtaining a clear financial picture can be more challenging for a mediator.
The solicitors and the mediator and the couple work towards a one off mediation meeting where all will attend – armed with all the information that they need with a view to reaching an agreement. We have called this the Case Resolution Mediation Meeting. Most cases will settle at this stage.
The mediator will work with the couple at the outset to deal with any interim issues and then before the Case Resolution Mediation Meeting to help the couple be properly prepared for that meeting – in order to maximise the prospects of settlement.The mediator will use their skills at the Case Resolution Mediation Meeting to maximise the prospects of settlement. If all goes well a final financial consent order will be drafted on the day.
If the case does not settle at the Case Resolution Mediation Meeting our Family Law Mediation-Arbitration Scheme allows the case to move seamlessly into an arbitration process.
In most cases, even if there is not an agreement at the Case Resolution Mediation Meeting, the gap between the couple should be sufficiently narrow that the arbitrator will be able to make a decision simply by looking at the paperwork.
If a paper arbitration is not possible then there will be an arbitration hearing.
Even in the worst-case scenario, the whole process should be able to be completed in less than six months. The biggest potential delay would be obtaining pension information/advice.
Apart from the scenario where there is an attended Arbitration Hearing – the eventualities are sufficiently predictable that these can be charged on a fixed fee basis. Full details of the fixed fees are in the scheme documentation. However, in all scenarios the costs should be significantly less then a contested court process.
The process gets underway after the couple and their solicitors sign the mediation contract and the binding agreement to arbitrate. This means that if the mediation part fails everyone is committed to proceed to arbitration. Our Family Law Mediation-Arbitration Scheme does however include a single break clause which deals with a scenario where one of the couple fails to provide full financial disclosure. This break is there as a safeguard – but it is unlikely to be needed – because exercising the break calls will commit the couple to spending thousands of pounds in a court process.
Here is a link to the scheme’s home page on our website:
http://ian-walker-family-law.local/solicitor-led-family-mediation/mediation-arbitration-scheme/
Here is a download to our detailed Family Law Mediation-Arbitration Scheme brochure.
mediation-arbitration-agreement-to-mediate-25november2016
In order for this to all work we need to have a team of expert arbitrators and solicitors who are committed to working within the process and who are willing to work to the fee scheme.
I am pleased to say that we are very lucky with our panel of participating arbitrators. These are:
Karin Walker|Partner KGW Family Law, Woking
Ian Taylor |Partner Coodes, St Austell. Deputy District Judge
Rhys Taylor |Barrister, 36 Bedford Row Chambers, London.
Barbara Corbett | Partner, Benest Corbett Renouf, Jersey.
Karin Walker is a member of the National Committee of Resolution and she is also the Chair of the Resolution Dispute Resolution Committee.All of our participating arbitrators and our initial panels of solicitors have considered the terms of the Family Law Mediation-Arbitration Scheme very carefully and are all very happy to be involved in it. The mediation side of the scheme has also been independently assessed by my own mediation PPC (practice supervisor).
I am in the role of mediator.I have been a family mediator since 1996.
I am also a practising solicitor and an arbitrator and mediator for civil disputes (where the style of mediation is slightly different).
Our initial panel of solicitors are:
Zoe Gaitskell | Partner Beviss & Beckingsale 01404 548055 Fin O’Leary | Solicitor Scott Rowe 01297 32345 Kim Stradling | Partner Everys 01395 264384 Terry Bastyan | Partner Gilbert Stephens 01392 424242 Fiona Yellowlees| Partner WBW 01626 202415 Victoria Oerton and Graham Simm| Partners Oerton Simm 01823 259449
All are very experienced solicitors and members of Resolution.
Our scheme is inclusive and not exclusive. We would be very happy for other solicitors to participate and we will also be happy for the solicitors to pick arbitrators not on our panel.
To be included on the list – solicitors need to commit to the fixed fees and to working within the spirit of the scheme.
I could not speak to everyone that I know in the legal world when I was working this out. I therefore limited those who I discussed it with to some near neighbours.
If anyone would like to be added to the list, they will be very welcome.
I will be offering the scheme in its attached form in East Devon (from Honiton), Exeter, Taunton and Newton Abbot. I am happy to run a modified version of the scheme elsewhere.
If you are slightly further afield and you would like to be able to participate in the scheme then please do let me know and we can work out how we can make modifications to benefit your clients.
Here is a flowchart showing how it works. But you need to read the full brochure. (Link above)
I’m pleased to announce that I have been admitted as a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators/Institute of Family Law Arbitrators (IFLA).
On Monday, 18 July 2016 Institute of Family Law Arbitrators (IFLA) will be formally launching its Children Law Arbitration Scheme at Parliament Chamber, Inner Temple, London.
I am pleased to say that I will be one of the founding Child Law Arbitrators within the Children Law Scheme.
In order to undertake the training as a child law arbitrator I needed to demonstrate my experience in this area of law and I also need to produce references from two Judges of my suitability.
I am very pleased and honoured to have gained this qualification. Over the next few years there is likely to be a growth in the use of arbitration in family disputes. I am pleased to be at the cutting edge of the development of this area practice.
I will be updating our website over the next few weeks with details of our arbitration service.
Arbitration is a form of dispute resolution. The parties enter into an agreement under which they appoint a suitably qualified person (an “arbitrator”) to adjudicate a dispute and make an award. (more…)
