Family

A “lack of consistent political leadership” – because of the high turnover of ministers chairing the Family Justice Board – has contributed to the continuing court delays facing families.

A deputy district judge and leading family law solicitor has condemned what he called the “continued saga” of “excessive costs” charged by family lawyers.

The family law market grew more strongly than expected last year, taking its total value to almost £2.2bn as firms look to offer more holistic services and embrace AI.

Leading specialist firm Family Law Partners has eschewed approaches from private equity houses to move instead to employee ownership.

The UK legal services market grew by 10% to £52bn last year and is heading towards a strong 2025 too, according to new research.

Top family law firm Payne Hicks Beach has expressed itself “pleased but not surprised” by the decision of a high-profile former client to drop her negligence action against it.

Top family law firm Payne Hicks Beach would be prejudiced by a split trial in the negligence action brought by the woman who secured the UK’s largest ever divorce award, the High Court has ruled.

A former client of a leading family law firm should be allowed to sue over its alleged failure to advise about its own negligence, the High Court has ruled.

A solicitor campaigning for statutory leave for those suffering baby loss says she has been “crying my eyes out with tears of happiness” after learning the government is to change the law.

A law firm was negligent in failing to prepare for a three-day hearing or instruct counsel for it, a Family Court judge has ruled in making a wasted costs order.

“Substantial proportions” of divorcees do not understand the law on how assets are split, even if they used a lawyer, the first research of its kind has found.

For family mediation week in January, the Family Mediation Council suggested making a pledge. Mine was to the FMC itself: to make the accreditation process more straightforward.

The Family Court has rejected a divorcing husband’s claim that his wife’s solicitors are conflicted out of acting for her because of past work they did for the couple.

An exasperated Family Court judge has adjourned a final hearing, saying the case was in such a “disordered and chaotic state that it is simply impossible to proceed in a fair way”.

Awareness of family mediation as an alternative to legal advice is not matched by action, with nearly half of people saying their first professional port of call in a divorce would be a lawyer.