QEB is a leading set of barristers' chambers dealing with all aspects of Family Law, with particular emphasis on financial claims

Arbitration This is a new alternative to resolve financial disputes, where parties can appoint an arbitrator to determine the appropriate division of their finances. The outcome is binding between the parties, although it is possible to appeal to the High Court on a point of law. The main advantages of this process are that it is entirely confidential (as opposed to the court process, where members of the press may attend), the parties can select their arbitrator (they cannot select their judge at court), and the parties are not delayed by the heavily-burdened court diary. The parties and arbitrator are able to agree the level of financial disclosure that is required and it is possible to ask the arbitrator to decide a specific point that is in issue and not just the whole outcome.

Sir Alan Ward, Sir Hugh Bennett, Jennifer Roberts QC and Duncan Brooks are all qualified arbitrators. Sir Hugh Bennett was one of the first to train as an arbitrator. Having previously sat as a High Court Judge, he has the respect of the entire legal profession. QEB has embraced this new procedure, and members of chambers are available to represent parties within the arbitration process.

Round-Table Meetings/Joint ConferencesWe have plenty of office space within Chambers for three-room meetings at which both sides to litigation may discuss their case in privacy and comfort, away from the courtroom, and then negotiate in a third room (either face-to-face or through their chosen representatives).

Collaborative Law Single Joint Experts Tim Amos QC, Michael Hosford-Tanner, Duncan Brooks and Tristan Harvey are all Resolution accredited collaborative lawyers. Uniquely for a barristers’ chambers all have completed the full Resolution course, and not the abridged course for counsel. They offer their services as experts within the Collaborative Process. Typically, they will be involved as experts or impasse-breakers in five-way meetings (solicitors have found it helpful for a jointly-instructed barrister to outline the applicable law to both parties), or will advise in writing about a point of law or the likely court outcome if the Collaborative Process were to break down.

Mediation Sir Alan Ward is currently the chair of the Civil Mediation Council and is a CEDR mediator.
Tim Amos QC and Michael Hosford-Tanner are qualified Resolution Mediators. They offer the full range of family mediation models, including direct party-only mediations and represented mediations (with parties and their solicitors/counsel). In whatever format, our mediations benefit from QEB’s state-of-the-art expanded modern premises and our mediators offer their experience through all-issues mediation as well as in either money and/or children cases separately. The aim is to help the parties explore and test their family and money options in a safe and voluntary manner, so that they can check whether a reasonable consensus is possible between themselves. The parties will have plenty of opportunity to consult their own legal advisers, and the parties are particularly encouraged to do that before they reach any legally-binding agreement. As an example of the diversity of practice-offering, Tim Amos recently conducted a successful German-German children mediation in German.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION (“DR”)
QEB offers five particular forms of complementary DR, by way of alternative to the stress, delay and essential uncertainty of litigation and court proceedings:

Private FDRs
Arbitration
Round-table meetings/Joint Conferences
Collaborative Law Single Joint Experts
Mediation

PRIVATE FDRs
Lewis Marks QC, Lucy Stone QC, Charles Hyde QC, Tim Amos QC, Jennifer Roberts QC, Andrew Tidbury and Duncan Brooks conduct Private FDRs. All are experienced QCs or have judicial appointments.

In addition, Sir Alan Ward (recently retired from the Court of Appeal) and Sir Hugh Bennett (a former High Court Judge) offer private FDRs under the QEB umbrella. Sir Hugh Bennett sits at regular intervals as a s.9 High Court Judge hearing financial cases and is also a Judge of the Courts of Appeal of Jersey and Guernsey, including hearing financial appeals. He has conducted many successful private FDRs (both in England and abroad), and the feedback from the solicitors involved has been extremely favourable.

The FDR, or Financial Dispute Resolution hearing, is a key stage of financial proceedings in the Family Courts. An FDR is an informal hearing before a Judge when the Judge hears a summary presentation of each side’s case and gives "early neutral evaluation" of the likely outcome if the case were to proceed to a final hearing, so that the parties are assisted to negotiate for themselves a tailor-made solution with an understanding of what a Court might be likely to order if the case went to a final hearing. It is, in effect, non-binding arbitration. This procedure is generally successful in producing autonomous settlement in 80-90% of cases which would otherwise involve judicial determination at a final hearing and which, in reality, would otherwise involve months of further waiting (and significantly increased legal costs) for a final court hearing.

However, such is the pressure on the Court’s listing of cases that even a supposedly straightforward FDR may itself involve a wait of many months just to get a Court date in front of a Judge who in some courts may turn out not to be an expert in money cases, and/or not to have had sufficient chance to read the case papers in advance of the FDR appointment, and/or who may not be able to devote sufficient time to securing a negotiated settlement.

A private FDR avoids the inherent risk of insufficient court time or judicial expertise. It also avoids the delay in waiting for a court date. And, very importantly, it can take place wholly outside the Court process – with or without the existence of court proceedings in parallel – and is not confined to financial issues (as is the case with Court-FDRs).

Private FDRs are not just appropriate for “big money” cases and can save costs. The length of a Private FDR can vary, and solicitors may choose to represent their clients themselves, thereby avoiding the cost of instructing counsel on each side. Private FDRs are very effective before court proceedings have been issued, where the parties have exchanged disclosure but where agreement has not been reached.

A QEB private FDR provides an early date; an appointment of flexible duration; an expert who will have read the papers thoroughly in advance and who will be able to give the parties the time which they may need in order to resolve the dispute; and assistance with drafting if required.

“Long held reputation for excellence.”

QEB, Queen Elizabeth Building, Temple, London, EC4Y 9BS +44 (0) 20 7797 7837