I have just attended a Family Mediation Week workshop run by the very able and eloquent Karen Barnham and Jo O’Sullivan, about the neutral solicitor model, which primarily caused me to think about why a separating couple might choose the neutral solicitor model instead of the mediation model and, perhaps more importantly, thinking about this in a less binary way, how the neutral solicitor model might compliment and enhance the mediation model, in the clients’ best interests.

My article unashamedly focuses on how the neutral solicitor model complements the mediation model in which the neutral solicitor becomes part of the mediation team, in a process I am developing and refer to as ‘mediation teaming’, rather than the other way around, in which mediation is complimenting the Neutral solicitor model, with the solicitor at the heart of the process. My reason for this preference of approach is the focus of a different article.

The process of ‘mediation teaming’ simply puts mediation at the heart of the decision-making process ‘adding on or plugging in’ other family professionals to support the separating couple to reach their own decisions, if and when needed and does so in the most cohesive, efficient and effective way, from an established team of professionals who are used to working and training together and understand the objectives and various needs of the separating couple (practical, emotional, psychological).

Therefore, thinking about the neutral solicitor for a moment, a time may come for example, during the mediation process, when the couple become completely stuck on how to apply a specific legal principle to their situation and need a clear idea about how the court might apply this principle in their situation.

In a situation such as this, as a mediator (former solicitor) I can definitely see possible benefits of using a neutral solicitor to offer a ‘neutral’ evaluation/opinion to the couple about a likely court approach and outcome, which the couple can then discuss in mediation, reality testing their thinking and approach with this new information in mind.

I have often see this approach create a ‘reluctant’ shift in at least one of the clients, leading to a successful outcome. After all, who wants to invest in all the costs and heart ache of court proceedings only to find that the court does not agree with them or give them what they want and think that they deserve.

I have seen this approach of using a neutral evaluation to help the couple develop a ‘new’ and different understanding, broadening their perspectives and insights on a range of legal issues which have become quite polarised.

Using this strategy and approach to unlock and unstick can certainly be the answer to achieving successful outcomes in mediation.

Also, I can definitely see the benefits of using a neutral solicitor, regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority, to prepare Consent Orders for the separating couple, at the end of the mediation process.

This has the obvious benefits of keeping the whole separation journey and process carefully managed and contained, minimising the tendency toward polarised thinking and approaches, respecting the fact that the separating couple will no doubt have worked hard together to come up with an agreement in mediation, taking into account a wide range of factors and matters of most importance to them.

The last thing most separating couples, want, is for all their good work to be unnecessarily unpicked and unravel and two solicitors.

For these reasons and many others, this article is unable to cover, I can definitely see myself recommending the mediation team approach to our national team of accredited family mediators and our clients in which I can see a very clear space and place for neutral solicitors to play an important role.