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25 July 2025 / Jennifer Headon
Issue: 8126 / Categories: Features , Profession , Family , Legal services , ADR , Divorce
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A quiet revolution?

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Family law is shifting towards a calmer & more constructive approach to solving conflicts, writes Jennifer Headon
  • Family law is moving away from aggressive, lengthy correspondence toward more constructive, empathetic communication to reduce conflict and improve outcomes.
  • Changes such as no-fault divorce, mandatory consideration of non-court dispute resolution, and the ‘One Couple, One Lawyer’ model are reshaping how family disputes are resolved, emphasising cooperation over confrontation.
  • There’s growing emphasis on mental health, co-parenting, transparency, and judicial scrutiny of legal costs, all aimed at reducing harm and promoting dignity in family law proceedings.

Something has changed in the inboxes of family law practitioners recently. Gone are the long-winded letters that, at best, set out complex legal arguments in excessive detail and, at worst, were unedited regurgitations of a client’s instructions—often allowing abusive spouses to continue a ‘lawful’ campaign of harassment. While such correspondence still exists, it has thankfully become rare.

In a time when personal telephone calls are increasingly infrequent, the humble telephone has re-emerged as a

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

Senior appointments in insurance services and commercial services announced

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Aviation disputes practice strengthened by London partner hire

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Residential property lawyer promoted to partnership

NEWS
he abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC
Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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