Family Law & Practice

Family lawyers are frequently instructed at a time of great emotional stress for their clients: stress which, if handled inappropriately can have deleterious and long term effects on all the members of the family. Many students have a keen interest in practising in this field, which demands both an extensive knowledge of law and procedure and a sympathetic and conciliatory approach.

The elective concentrates on the problems encountered by families, married or not, that are involved in a permanent breakdown of their relationship. Such problems form the bedrock of a family law department in practice. As such, the elective deals with the law relating to:

• Divorce
• Finance and property disputes (including the protection of occupation)
• Disputes relating to the upbringing of children
• Injunctive relief in the domestic violence context
• Relevant aspects of the public funding, tax and welfare benefit schemes

By the use of practical exercises and case studies, the elective is also designed to ensure that every student should gain an understanding of relevant procedures. This will enable them to research and handle those procedures when called upon to do so in the early days of their training contracts.

Students will specifically address the issue of dealing with a client under stress and will be made aware of the advantages of conciliatory attitudes and mediation procedures.

The content of the full-time and part-time course is identical, but they are structured differently.