Family law is emotional work. Most of us came into it to help people, not because we love timesheets. Yet the way we price our work often undermines access to justice, practitioner wellbeing, and thoughtful representation. “Profit with purpose” is not a slogan. It is a choice to design pricing models that are fair to clients, sustainable for firms, and aligned with the real value we create.
When Mia started her first job as a family lawyer, she thought the firm’s precedent and automation system was magic. With a few clicks she could produce parenting orders, property orders and affidavits that looked polished, compliant and complete.
We are now in a new age of Family Dispute Resolution (FDR), where practitioners can draw on a spectrum of processes – mediation, child-inclusive practice, collaborative law, parenting coordination, arbitration, hybrid models and more , to design pathways that match risk, complexity, culture, and client capacity.
Family law mediations are often described as “essential” or “best practice”, but that can oversimplify a complex reality. Mediation can be transformative – or deeply unsafe and unproductive – depending on the timing, the screening, the practitioners involved, and the parties’ capacity to participate. Although many of you will gasp when you read the above statement, we can all agree that there are clear cases where Mediation should not occur under any circumstances.
Access to justice remains a significant challenge for regional and remote Australians. This article examines how distance, cost, workforce shortages and limited services create barriers to legal help, who is most at risk, and how the Future of Regional Legal Services project is gathering real experiences through the National Access to Justice Survey and Regional Voices Project.
In family law, the quality of your relationship with counsel can materially shift outcomes for clients. A well-chosen, well-briefed barrister isn’t just an advocate in court, they are a strategic partner in risk assessment, settlement, and case theory.
Over the coming months, FLENA will travel through regional and remote communities across Australia, connecting with local practitioners, professionals, community organisations and residence. We will listen, learn and better understand the opportunities and challenges facing communities outside our major cities.
Financial abuse is one of the most common yet least recognised forms of family violence. In family law matters, it can profoundly affect bargaining power, access to resources, the fairness of negotiations, and the overall safety of the affected party.
True safety planning in family law is more than drafting an intervention order and hoping for the best. If we work with clients who have lived through family and domestic violence, we are also working with trauma, whether it is named or not.
Superannuation splitting is one of the easiest areas for avoidable mistakes — and one of the fastest ways for Orders to be rejected by a fund trustee. A clean, compliant super split starts with a systematic approach. Before filing any proposed Orders with the Court, here are the critical checks every practitioner should complete.
Family law is emotional work. Most of us came into it to help people, not because we love timesheets. Yet the way we price our work often undermines access to justice, practitioner wellbeing, and thoughtful representation. “Profit with purpose” is not a slogan. It is a choice to design pricing models that are fair to clients, sustainable for firms, and aligned with the real value we create.
When Mia started her first job as a family lawyer, she thought the firm’s precedent and automation system was magic. With a few clicks she could produce parenting orders, property orders and affidavits that looked polished, compliant and complete.
We are now in a new age of Family Dispute Resolution (FDR), where practitioners can draw on a spectrum of processes – mediation, child-inclusive practice, collaborative law, parenting coordination, arbitration, hybrid models and more , to design pathways that match risk, complexity, culture, and client capacity.
Family law mediations are often described as “essential” or “best practice”, but that can oversimplify a complex reality. Mediation can be transformative – or deeply unsafe and unproductive – depending on the timing, the screening, the practitioners involved, and the parties’ capacity to participate. Although many of you will gasp when you read the above statement, we can all agree that there are clear cases where Mediation should not occur under any circumstances.
Access to justice remains a significant challenge for regional and remote Australians. This article examines how distance, cost, workforce shortages and limited services create barriers to legal help, who is most at risk, and how the Future of Regional Legal Services project is gathering real experiences through the National Access to Justice Survey and Regional Voices Project.
In family law, the quality of your relationship with counsel can materially shift outcomes for clients. A well-chosen, well-briefed barrister isn’t just an advocate in court, they are a strategic partner in risk assessment, settlement, and case theory.
Over the coming months, FLENA will travel through regional and remote communities across Australia, connecting with local practitioners, professionals, community organisations and residence. We will listen, learn and better understand the opportunities and challenges facing communities outside our major cities.
Financial abuse is one of the most common yet least recognised forms of family violence. In family law matters, it can profoundly affect bargaining power, access to resources, the fairness of negotiations, and the overall safety of the affected party.
True safety planning in family law is more than drafting an intervention order and hoping for the best. If we work with clients who have lived through family and domestic violence, we are also working with trauma, whether it is named or not.
Superannuation splitting is one of the easiest areas for avoidable mistakes — and one of the fastest ways for Orders to be rejected by a fund trustee. A clean, compliant super split starts with a systematic approach. Before filing any proposed Orders with the Court, here are the critical checks every practitioner should complete.
