Abstract
The legal services market faces unprecedented change following implementation of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). Alternative business models and wider use of digital technologies have developed alongside debates about the future of legal practice in family law. Arguments have been made for new hybrid models that combine legal advice with mediation and for solicitors to be enabled to work with two clients. This paper contributes to that debate by highlighting implications for such practice innovations based on new research evidence of solicitors’ experiences of delivering an experimental model of practice: ‘Family Matters Guides’. This model, piloted by Resolution, involved the Guides providing intensive support and legal information (not legal advice) to both separating parents to help them reach agreements. This paper is timely as the professions await the new regulations from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (autumn 2018) making flexible practice models a reality.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | Pages: 265-279 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 11 Jun 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 11 Jun 2019 |
Bibliographical note
© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.Keywords
- practice innovation
- professional boundaries
- mediators
- solicitors
- regulations
- Family Law
