What clients might be suitable for the One Solicitor: One Couple process (also known as Solicitor Neutral or Resolution Together)? I’m delighted to be joined in this blog by Dr Angharad Rudkin, a child psychologist, author and creator of the What...
I will help you have the best divorce possible. The so called ‘Good Divorce’. If you have children, we’ll put them first.
It is possible but it is not easy, to have a 'good divorce'. That’s why I work with therapists and family consultants to deal with the emotional fall out of divorce and separation. Often this work will be a priority over any legal work. But I will let you know if you need to take any urgent legal steps. Or, as is most often the case, doing nothing legally but letting things settle down and for the emotional heat to cool off.
Do explore this website, it sets out my approach to avoiding the family court; see especially the section on Sorting Things Out. I will think creatively and flexibly to sort things out for and with you; by really listening to you. It may be that one process I offer is not appropriate early on, in your break up journey, but then later on it is. I'll be agile, thinking things through with you and getting to the heart of what’s needed, all without costing the earth. I'm one of the most experienced in England & Wales in working in ways that avoid court. The President of the Family Law division in 2022 called O'Sullivan Family Law Ltd as a 'leading firm' for my work on the Solicitor Neutral or as I call it, the One Lawyer: One Couple model.
Although I'm experienced and successful litigator, I will not work with you in court. Court litigation or preparation for it brings out the worst in me and it certainly and naturally brings out the worst in my clients. This is a necessary feature of the adversarial family law system and one I reject. My approach is not to posture or position. I will help you get what’s fair for you and your children. If you have children, they come first (this is worth repeating again and again).
I use Workbooks and Engage (an AI tool that gives her all the financial and other information she needs to move forward with your case) before you meet with me which gives us a head start. You’ll do some insightful work, using the Workbooks, on your own which helps you contemplate how you feel about the many decisions you will have to make. The Workbooks offer an overview of the all the work we will do together too.
This preparation means that when we meet, you are ready. We can talk about what you’ve learned, what you value, hope for and what you are most worried about. A Judge will never do this work with you. It’s not because they don’t care, it’s just not what they do.
Most people given the choice, do want to try to sort things out sensibly, as cheaply as possible, with dignity and workable long-term solutions. If that’s what you want, you’ve come to the right place.