Birmingham 16 May 2025
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Thank you, Colin, for that introduction, and I’d like to add my thanks to Adam for chairing the conference and giving us all such a warm welcome to the brilliant city of Birmingham.
It’s not lost on me, Conference, that I have become Chair of Resolution at an important time for the organisation and for the family justice community.
I have been on the National Committee for the best part of a decade now, and I’ve seen a huge change in that time.
As Colin said, 2024 was a big year of change for the staff team, and has led to members receiving more events, more training, and more essential guides and resources, allowing us to take our professional development to the next level.
Over the last ten years, Resolution has, by its very nature, become more structured and more business-like – in a good way. Meaning it has become a lot more settled, prepared and defined.
We now sit at the top table of government conversations, advising and guiding decision makers on how to advance our great profession and make separation a better process for families and most importantly less confrontational for children.
All of this is down to the hard work that the staff and the various National Committee, Regional and Committee members have put in to create an entity which really works so seamlessly.
When I talk about hard work, no where is that more evident than through the fabulous team at Resolution. As members, we are lucky to have such a fantastic team working for us. When I travel round the country, I’m left with the impression that many members think we have a huge team delivering all the things we do for members. The reality is there are just over 20 of them.
Often we take their hard work for granted, but for such a small team, they work incredibly hard, day in day out, to make events like this a reality.
Conference, what really makes the whole team stand out, is not just how good they are or how hard they work, but just how much each and every one of them cares about what Resolution is doing as an organisation – many of you wont have seen it up close, but I have, and believe me we are lucky to have them, so let’s show our appreciation for them now.
I’d like to add my thanks to Grant for his superb leadership over the past two years. I don’t think I fully appreciated just how much the Chair does for and on behalf of Resolution until I saw it up close as Grant’s vice-chair.
Grant has never been one for blowing his own trumpet, so I’m going to do that for him now. In his two years, Resolution and Grant achieved so, so much.
- He led us during our 40 year anniversary, celebrating four decades of changing the face of family justice.
- He played a key role in shaping our Vision for Family Justice, and being at the forefront of its launch in Parliament, bringing your voice to those in power.
- And I can’t stress enough, just how much time – and petrol – Grant has put in to supporting our brilliant regional groups, travelling up and down the country to speak at events and encourage more members to connect with their Region.
Grant, it’s been a real honour to have worked with you over these last two years, and I’d like to personally thank you for all the support and guidance you’ve given me as I prepared to step into your shoes. I know you’ll continue to be involved in Resolution’s work, but for now, Grant, thank you for everything you’ve done.
I wouldn’t be stood here today, without Grant’s support, but also the support of our amazing National Committee members.
I’d like to take this time to thank all of them for their continued work to ensure the ship is steered in the right direction.
In particular, I’d like to thank those who won’t be continuing on NC, Victoria Walker and Hannah Saxe for all of their hard work and commitment in their terms of service on National Committee.
And I’d also like to congratulate Alison Bull, Natalie Drew, Jo Edwards, Zoe Fleetwood, Graeme Fraser, Juliet Harvey and David Lister on their re-election to National Committee. And a very warm welcome to Rebecca Hawkins and Catherine Sousa who join us on the committee for the next three years.
At this morning’s AGM, it was my pleasure to welcome Lucy Loizou into her role as Vice-Chair of Resolution.
I’ve had the privilege of working closely with Lucy for the last couple of months putting our plans in place for the next two years, and what really stands out to me is that Lucy wholeheartedly believes in this organisation and the work that we do.
Her dedication, her commitment and her passion for all things family law and all things Resolution are unrivalled. She was instrumental in setting up YRes just over a decade ago, and her work on the international stage has helped grow Resolution’s reach beyond our borders. She also shares the same passion and energy as Grant and I for our regions and committees, so look forward to a visit from one of us soon. Or both, if you’re really good!
I am excited to see where we can take this organisation in the next two years together as we look to build on the excellent work of Grant and the many Chairs that came before him.
From Day 1 Resolution has been the backbone to my career.
Resolution has helped me be the solicitor I am today.
When I was training, everybody had to be a member of Resolution. I really had no choice but to be a member – and I’m so glad that decision was taken out of my hands.
I have met so many amazing people, learnt more than I ever could have imagined and have been able to experience so many career highs because of Resolution.
I can’t ever imagine not being a part of Resolution – it has always gone hand in hand with my day job.
Being an active part of Resolution helped me understand what’s going on in the family law world and what was going on in my area.
As my career progressed, I got more involved in Resolution because it was becoming more and more of an anchor to my work life.
Everything about Resolution gave me a network that has constantly helped me out, no matter where I was based or what my experience had been at the time.
I am delighted and honoured now, that as your Chair, I am able to give back to my colleagues and to this organisation.
Resolution has helped to raise my profile.
Resolution has helped me network with other family law professionals and find firms that I want to work with.
And Resolution has helped me to build amazing connections and create lasting friendships.
For me, Resolution is family practice.
And for Resolution, 2025 is all about the Code of Practice.
Wherever you look during this conference, you will be reminded of the Code of Practice and what it means to be a member of Resolution and why we joined this organisation in the first place.
It is because we all have the same goal. We want to deal with family matters in a constructive way, putting the needs of the family first.
The Code of Practice is central to that and should be a staple to your day-to-day work.
Conference, trust me, I know how hard it is to keep the Code at the heart of what we do in our day-to-day, high pressured roles. We are all so busy, and while we should all be able to recite the Code in our sleep, sometimes it’s really difficult to stick to when you’re faced with a difficult client or pressures in the workplace.
But that’s why this year, The Year of the Code, is so important. It’s our chance, as members, to restate our commitment to something that should be engrained in everything we do.
The Year of the Code is reminder of the resources we have available to us. The good practice guides, the orders and agreements and the plethora of training opportunities available, to help you embrace the values of Resolution and keep the Code at the heart of everything you do.
It’s by keeping the Code front and centre that we’ll continue to transform the family justice landscape.
As the Code evolves and develops, so too does Resolution’s aims of pioneering new ways to help couples reach agreements.
Speaking of transforming the family justice landscape, central to that is Resolution’s contribution to influencing Government’s thinking towards family justice policy.
The role Resolution plays in shaping the thinking of government and opposition on family justice, cannot be underestimated and is crucial to changing how we work, and how we provide a service to our clients.
As always, we advocate for a fairer, more accessible family justice system, one that supports families, minimises conflict, and puts children at the heart of every decision.
For so many years, our Family Law Reform Group, led by Jo Edwards and Rachel Rogers, has pushed the conversation, first to deliver no fault divorce and, soon, we hope, to deliver Cohabitation Reform.
We know that in 2025 and beyond It is vital that the family justice system meets the need of today’s modern families. We recognise that all families are different, and a one size fits all approach does not support families and children.
A new government has brought new commitments, not least on cohabitation reform. And we have been delighted to see that, in less than a year, we have moved from campaigning for change, to now shaping what that change will look like.
We know from our discussions that work is happening in the background. I know we all want it to happen yesterday; but the reality of Government is that it never moves as fast as some of us would like. We will continue to work with Government and push them on this, we will keep the conversations going, and we are more determined than ever to make sure it gets over the line.
As a result of our work, the government is committed to changing the law to protect cohabitants, we have been engaged in positive conversations, and now we need to ensure our voice remains loud and strong on this subject to ensure reform is delivered.
The law should start to recognise different types of family formation and ensure no family is left behind and crucially making sure that children’s voices are heard.
Covid-19 proved the resilience of our great profession.
It’s a testament to us, that we were able to carry on going and were agile enough and proactive enough to continue to serve families through such a chaotic time.
As an international lawyer, I know that the rest of the world were astounded at our ability to keep going in this country. In many other jurisdictions across the world, the shutters came down on the family court. But not here. We kept going. All of us in this room had a role to play in keeping the system going. We should be proud of ourselves for the role we played in supporting families during that unprecedented period.
Of course, since then we have had many more issues:
Demand on family courts has never been higher, domestic abuse is still all too common, and now the rise of AI is changing the way practitioners work.
But the mantra of family justice professionals during Covid-19 is as prevalent today as it was today. We are all still pulling in the same direction, whether it’s the judges, the clerks, the solicitors, the barristers, we were all trying to make family justice better for us all.
I know firsthand how tough it is for our members out there, but be assured, Resolution has your back.
We are in regular dialogue with the President and the judiciary, with MoJ officials, and with partner organisations.
Our committees and members are doing some fabulous work to support you – and I must give a special mention to Anita Mehta and Olivia Piercy for their groundbreaking work on economic abuse.
And our fantastic staff team are committed, hard working and passionate about the work they do to help you.
Resolution’s greatest strength is in the diversity of our membership.
One of the key areas I want to focus on is the importance of collaboration across the work that we do, and seeking to introduce more non-lawyer members into Resolution.
It was great to attend the Financial Advisers Conference in February, and this demonstrated the importance of the multi-disciplinary nature of service that many families going through divorce and separation need.
Resolution is home to a broad range of individuals, all with different expertise and skills working across many specialist areas.
Since being a part of Resolution, one of the most exciting developments has been the way different professionals have come together to help our clients who are facing life changing challenges to find constructive solutions which are client focused – putting the needs of their children front and centre.
There is now a much more holistic way that we all work in family law.
I see the continued involvement of many parties coming together and talking about de-siloing our processes.
And being able to make every part of our profession more accessible, more understandable, and more intelligible for the clients is so important.
It’s key that we continue to make sure that our clients understand that there are a raft of options available to them and that we are able to work together. We need to welcome absolutely everybody and anybody who is a family law professional.
We need to be welcoming them with open arms and find a way of offering them what they need, what they want, and to help and support them in getting involved in Resolution and also what is happening in the family law world.
We also continue to lead the narrative on just how important it is to get good advice early on to our clients.
It is key to helping them avoid going to court.
Early legal advice can help us and our clients resolve matters quickly. It can help relieve the stress of what families are going through, because they’re reassured, or they have the information.
As I know from my work with AdviceNow; and as I’m sure many of you know from the work you do: if we can crack the nut of early legal advice we can help resolve a lot of problems. We can help dial down the pressure, the stress and most importantly we can keep more people out of court who don’t need to be there.
The pandemic moved us into a world where we discovered that we could work in different ways; we could work remotely, we could work hybrid and for a lot of members, me included, we were isolated working from home.
After a while, it started to be understood that we weren’t very good at looking after ourselves.
And all of a sudden we began to reflect inwardly and opened up the important conversations we all needed to have with regards to the premise of wellbeing.
This year’s Conference coincides with this Mental Health Awareness Week.
The theme for 2025 is ‘Community’, and what better way for us to use Mental Health Awareness Week to celebrate the power and importance of our amazing family justice community.
Our community, up and down the country, have been very vocal about wellbeing, particularly for young professionals.
We have so many brilliant junior members joining us, and it’s so good to see so many of you here today, that are leading the charge for change with regards to how we work in the family justice profession.
We’re in a field of work that requires us to think about wellbeing from a number of angles, especially from that of your clients, and how that impacts you as well.
There is an onus on all of us to support those starting their careers, who are asking the hard questions about what makes a pleasant working environment, and how we can make family justice an attractive area for people to think about working in.
Resolution and its Wellbeing Committee want to look at changing the way we work.
How can family justice become more friendly? Maybe we don’t want to have billable hours anymore? Maybe we shouldn’t send that letter to that solicitor using that tone of voice? Maybe your managers are struggling to cope with their own wellbeing that’s impacting the office – and then, what about our clients?
Over the next two years, I want to be listening to all of you at the forefront of family justice, working with families and children to truly understand what we should be looking at, what the specific pressure points are and what, as an organisation, we can bring to the rest of the membership.
There is so much going on at the same time, so much to think about, but the best place to start is looking at ourselves and being reminded of our Code of Practice.
No matter where I have lived and worked, the one constant for me has been Resolution and its Code of Practice.
The organisation has always been there for me to fall back on and to keep me grounded.
I’ve worked in many different parts of the country, from Buckinghamshire to Bedfordshire, Somerset to Hampshire. I’ve been all over the place.
Whenever I would move to a new area, I would have a Resolution Region to call home. If I didn’t know something, I always had a committee to engage with.
As a profession we are truly stronger together. And there’s no greater example of collaboration than that shown by our Regions and Committees.
I really, really would like the regions to feel more involved and to participate more in our Central activity, in my time as your Chair. I want to help our Regions to grow and to get them to expand and have more active members.
Our Regions and Committees are fundamental to the success of Resolution. They are the heart and soul of everything we do.
The crucial work of our volunteers is not lost on me, nor is it lost on your National Committee.
Conference, if you take one thing away from listening to me today, it is that every member has a voice within this organisation.
Building on the work of Grant, and Juliet before him, Lucy and I will continue to work hard to increase the role of Regions and make you more connected to everything we do. I want to increase our members’ desire to play an active role in Resolution and wish to see more of you get involved with your region and our committees and see firsthand the amount of great work that’s going on.
You will get so much out the organisation if you get involved. You don’t have to be a Vice Chair or become the Chair, just become involved in any way you can, whether it is going to regional events or part of a specific committee, meeting up with your colleagues or attending training, just get involved with the organisation because you will get so much from it. Honestly, the more you put in, the more you’ll get out of Resolution.
There’s nothing quite like Resolution.
Every time I go abroad for conferences, or I speak to international colleagues, they are amazed that this kind of organisation exists.
I truly believe that there continues to be a real need for an organisation like Resolution, one that has a specific mindset about how to work with other lawyers, family law professionals and our clients.
If we’re all working together with the same mindset, Resolution will continue to go from strength to strength.
Thank you, and have a great conference.
