New to Bennett Griffin – Collaborative Law

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As Family lawyers who are committed to the principles of Resolution, we adopt a robust, yet non-confrontational approach to divorce, and encourage our clients to seek shared solutions and reach mutually beneficial agreements, wherever possible.

Mediation can help couples arrive at that fair end result and explore and smooth over tensions along the way. It involves a trained Mediator working with a couple together, without any lawyers in the room.

However, the traditional litigation based way of dealing with a breakdown of a relationship remains one in which parties are polarised into “us and them”. It is often the case that one spouse/partner rushes off to their lawyer, and a letter is then fired out to the lawyer on the “other side”, and the paperwork, and the respective bills, escalate, and the issues remain raw and entrenched. There is the risk that both or either client may feel excluded from the decision-making process despite the fact that it is about matters which are very personal to them.

There is a different way.

The Collaborative approach enables you to sit down with your lawyer, along with your former spouse/partner and their lawyer, and discuss matters which are important to both clients, in an open and supportive way. You tell us, your lawyers, what your hopes and expectations are for you and your family, and we work with you, and one another, to create an agreement which matches your needs. This process can be cathartic and liberating as it addresses any fears, anger, and bitterness immediately, and acknowledges how these feelings have affected each of you. It is a process in which you, as the client, are in control of the final arrangement, as opposed to a Judge imposing a result.

Please call our Family team on 01903 229938 if you would like to discuss any of the above areas with a view to resolving matters in a way which works best for you.