We are now 7 / Our plans for 2020 / New Year Message

Ian Walker Family Law and Mediation Solicitors are now 7 years old. We are a specialist Solicitors Practice based in Devon and Somerset. Our specialism is family law and family dispute resolution.

From a legal point of view this means we specialise in the law of divorce, divorce finance including high new worth divorce, separating non-married couples and their finances, child arrangements including where children reside and how they should spend time with family members, surrogacy and adoption. We also specialise in the law of child protection representing children and their parents (and grandparents) when there is intervention by social services.

From a family dispute resolution perspective, this means we assist as lawyers by giving advice and providing representation. We also assist as neutral family mediators.

Good family dispute resolution means finding the best dispute process to enable clients to achieve sensible outcomes. There are various processes through which disputes can be resolved; sometimes asking a Judge to decide is the only way, but most cases can be settled through negotiation. There are various ways to negotiate, these include; round table meetings, arm’s length letter writing, collaborative family law, divorce mediation, mediation with or without lawyers, mediator for family conflict, mediation with arbitration, early neutral evaluation, arbitration or combinations of these!

As specialists, we work with clients to find the best way to negotiate.

In the last 7 years, we have grown from me with a computer into one of the largest family law teams in the South West.

Join our team in 2020

This year we have exciting plans and are currently recruiting for 3 new positions:

Head of Divorce and Finance http://ian-walker-family-law.local/we-are-recruiting-head-of-divorce-finance/

Head of Child Law http://ian-walker-family-law.local/we-are-recruiting-head-of-child-law/

Finance Manager http://ian-walker-family-law.local/we-are-recruiting-finance-manager-new-role/

All are exciting opportunities and together with other plans will help us to progress the practice to the next level

Award-Winning

In 2019 I was honoured to be Highly Commended as Practice Manager in the Law Society Recognising Excellence Awards.

In February 2020 I will be attending the Modern Law Awards in Manchester where we have been shortlisted for Boutique Law Firm of the Year 2020.

I have also been shortlisted in a further prestigious award which I cannot share yet.

These are all humbling, but what is most important is always doing the best for our clients.

New Year Message

I was thinking about a new year message to end this blog.

A lot of cases we deal with are high conflict, often unnecessarily so. Conflictual mindsets can get in the way of clear thinking and achieving sensible long term solutions.

I came across the following blog from New Internationalist about peace https://newint.org/features/2018/09/18/10-steps-world-peace

Item 10 on the list is particularly relevant:

10 Look within

Peace starts with you. Ordinary citizens can make a difference. When’s the last time you said sorry? Think about who loses when you win. Are the people around you heard and respected or marginalized, ignored and left out? Make a decision to care about what happens to them. Start a constructive conversation with someone you disagree with. Challenge ‘them-and-us’ thinking in yourself as well as in others. Every one of us can choose to make society more just and peaceful, or more unjust and warlike.

We could all follow this advice. All agreements require some form of conversation and the best and most durable solutions come from the best conversations (which include mutuality, understanding of the other and respect). If we want others to listen to us we need to listen to them.

Let’s make 2020 more inclusive, respectful and peaceful…