Family Law in Partnership is delighted to win the Excellence in Learning & Development award at last night’s Law Society Excellence Awards 2018 (17th October 2018).

Gillian Bishop, one of the founding partners of Family Law in Partnership, commented:

“We are thrilled that the role of FLiP Faculty in promoting a better understanding of the emotional and psychological impact of family law on clients and practitioners alike has been recognised by this prestigious award. In particular, the diploma in family law supervision offered by FLiP Faculty will, we hope, help to promote the mental health well-being of all professionals practising family law”.

In 2017 Gillian Bishop, Family Law in Partnership consultant Felicity Shedden and Alex von der Heyde, Family Law in Partnership’s practice manager, launched FLiP Faculty. FLiP Faculty offers specialist training to help family practitioners understand the emotional and psychological impact for both clients and themselves of working in the field of family breakdown. FLiP Faculty is plugging a gap in the market by looking beyond the day to day delivery of legal services, focusing instead on developing insights into the factors affecting the relationship between the client and the family law professional.

Since September 2018 FLiP Faculty has offered a diploma in family law supervision – believed to be the first of its kind in the UK and elsewhere. The course will teach participants how to supervise and support other family practitioners to deal with stressful situations in the workplace with a view to promoting mental health wellbeing. The diploma is open to all professionals involved in the family justice system.

The diploma addresses a gap in supervision for family lawyers. Unlike other professionals in the family justice system – for example, child psychologists, counsellors, family mediators and family therapists – family lawyers are the only frontline professionals in the family justice system not to receive supervision. Our belief is that this omission needs to be rectified in order to support family lawyers in dealing with the emotional and psychological demands of their day to day job.

Family Law in Partnership has itself introduced an in-house supervision programme which involves a psychotherapist attending the office two days a month to discuss issues of concern for our staff on an individual and confidential basis. Equipping our family lawyers with the tools to combat stress will, we believe, make a positive difference to the way that our lawyers assist, advise and interact with clients.

At Family Law in Partnership our aim is to make the family change experience better so our clients can successfully move forward with their lives. We make it our job to understand the emotional impact of divorce and separation on you and your family. For further information on our unique approach to helping couples through family breakdown, contact any of our leading divorce and family lawyers at E: hello@flip.co.uk or T: 020 7420 5000. For further information about FLiP Faculty and the courses that if offers, click here.