Family Law in Partnership Ltd has a ‘genuine passion and understanding for what it does – a thirst for wanting to do the best for families and an openness to always learning more’. It has a whole host of skilled individuals who cover all types of mediation from child inclusive mediation to sole and co-mediation in addition to hybrid mediation. The team has 14 qualified family mediators including Dominic Raeside who is a ‘reassuring safe pair of hands for children mediation’. James Pirrie is praised for his ability to ‘distil complex financial cases and get to grips with the facts fast’. Elizabeth Fletcher is a ‘class act and extremely empathetic’. David Allison ‘can handle the most confrontational and complex situations well’.  Ruth Smallacombe is another known name who is a senior accredited mediator and her expertise spans the full spectrum of family issues.

Russell-Cooke LLP has a strong focus on ADR and mediation. It offers sole mediation, co-mediation as well as hybrid and shuttle mediation. The agile team mediates on a wide variety of family and children related matters. James Carroll is an accredited mediator and a collaborative family lawyer. Carroll mediates on many issues including cohabitation and property disputes and international cases involving complex trust and tax issues. Fiona Read is an accredited mediator and member of the Family Mediation Council. Read is adept at conducting mediations in high conflict cases and also does hybrid mediation. Kate Hamilton is a trained Resolution mediator who is often asked to mediate on high-net-worth cases and cases with conflict. In addition Hamilton is a trained hybrid mediator.

Anthony Gold Solicitors LLP has some ‘very knowledgeable family lawyers’ and its ‘mediation department is very experienced and offers legal aid and very good value for a London practice’. Kim Beatson is respected for her expertise across a wide range of finance and complicated children matters. David Emmerson is a known name who is equally adept at dealing with finance and children matters as well as co-habitation and pre-nuptial work. Emmerson receives a steady flow of referrals from judges and barristers. Caroline Bowden is a ‘highly skilled mediator, who never fails to please clients’.  Bowden’s work spans dealing with the finances of high-net-worth clients to complex children work that is funded by legal aid.

Sarah Anticoni at Charles Russell Speechlys LLP is one of the foremost mediators who regularly receives referrals from other law firms and counsel. Her practice has a particular emphasis on mediating complex financial claims upon divorce as well as future arrangements for children of international HNW clients. Anticoni has considerable experience of drafting pre-and post-nuptial agreements and is a fellow of the IAFL. James Freeman is practice head.

Family Law Partners ‘has actively promoted working collaboratively with colleagues from other disciplines from the outset, promoting collaborative practice’. Sarah Jelly mediates on all matters and where financial issues are involved these are often high-value, and Hazel Manktelow is also a child inclusive mediator. Gemma Hope is a member of the Family Mediation Council while Kate Elliott is another recommended mediator. It is a ‘very big and growing successful practice with some super lawyers’. It has also been described as a ‘dynamic and disruptive law firm that has put DR at the front of its practice with an innovative pricing strategy and work environment’. Former director Mark Harrop left in summer 2022 and works as a deputy district judge.

Goodman Ray has a ‘small but perfectly formed mediation team’ of Tom Brownrigg and Trudi Featherstone. They are praised for their ‘top class service’ and for both being ‘excellent mediators’ who are ‘firm and commanding where necessary but with warmth’. Featherstone is a resolution trained family mediator who can mediate on all issues (children and finance) and is a collaboratively trained lawyer. Brownrigg has been accredited by the Family Mediation Council to undertake all issues mediation and is a resolution trained mediator.

Hunters Law LLP fields a strong team of three mediators. Henry Hood heads the department and is an experienced mediator. Hood is an accredited resolution specialist in advanced financial provision and private children law as well as a member of the International Academy of Family Lawyers. Jo Carr-West is a talented mediator who is also comfortable doing co-mediating with therapeutic providers and specialises in high-net-worth financial issues on divorce as well as private law children matters. Nicole Derham is a newly-qualified mediator. Jay Patel is now at Lawrence Stephens solicitors.

Kingsley Napley LLP now has four mediators and is ‘really gaining a name for itself in the mediation sphere’. It has considerable depth throughout its ranks and is well-equipped to handle work involving finance as well as children proceedings. Under the superb leadership of Charlotte Bradley it is recognised for its representation of clients in complex finance UNHW/HNW cases and often acts for clients in the public eye. Bradley is an accredited mediator and mediates in high-value and complex financial disputes on a regular basis. Connie Atkinson is also highly recommended. It has ‘really raised its profile over recent years with lots of new, young and talented partners’.

Simon Pigott at Levison Meltzer Pigott ‘is one of London’s best mediators and has a first-class reputation and achieves very good results. He has all the personal qualities needed to mediate complex family cases’.

Michelle Uppal at Miles & Partners LLP is a skilled accredited mediator who offers sole mediation as well as co-mediation sessions. Uppal has recently successfully resolved complex children matters, conducted transatlantic mediations and has been involved in mediations where there are difficult financial matters such as where the matrimonial assets are caught up in complicated group structures. Uppal excels at helping couples and families to reach amicable agreements in the aftermath of separation or divorce.

Mills & Reeve LLP throughout its national team is committed to mediation. In London it has particular strength in both complex financial cases involving corporate structures and offshore trusts as well as complicated children law cases often involving international elements. Alison Bull is an accredited family mediator who is also qualified to see children in mediation. Suzanne Kingston is a renowned mediator and is a trained collaborative lawyer, an accredited mediator, a hybrid mediator as well as an accredited arbitrator. Kingston is regularly instructed to conduct mediations by Magic Circle law firms.

Moore Barlow has the ‘first-rate’ Karen Barham who has ‘huge emotional intelligence and a commitment to reaching fair and amicable settlements’. Barham is qualified to consult children and is also a professional practice consultant supervising over 20 other mediators. Barham is praised for being ‘very skilled in bringing couples to a resolution of issues. She puts people at ease and makes them feel heard’. Joanna Farrands leads the team.

Osbornes ‘has a strong ethos for being conciliatory (rather than aggressive) with fair/ethical billing practices and strong ADR principles (mediation etc)’. Head of team is the ‘very experienced’ Lisa Pepper who is ‘compassionate, supportive and committed to hear clients, with a very warm manner’. Pepper continues to receive referrals from a large number of leading law firms and mediates on private law children matters, divorces and matrimonial finance cases. She also mediates for large adult family groups. David Leadercramer mediates on all issues. Andrew Watson, Mark Freedman and Bridget Thompson are resolution trained lawyer mediators.

Thomson Snell & Passmore receives a steady flow of instructions from numerous local firms and from some London firms. Kirstie Law ‘gets to the nub of the issue(s) with a no-nonsense real world approach’ and is one of the few practitioners locally who is qualified to directly consult with children as part of the mediation process. Law is an all issues mediator (including children and finances) and also as a consequence of her accreditation frequently receives referrals where there are ongoing court proceedings. Desmond O’Donnell is a mediator and a trained collaborative lawyer who mediates on all family law issues.

Withers LLP has a first-rate team of experienced and respected mediators that is led by Suzanne Todd. Todd is considered to be a ‘go to’ practitioner in London for divorces with an Italian theme as she is fluent in Italian. Claire Blakemore and Diana Parker are among the other prominent members of the team. Parker is also an arbitrator for financial disputes on divorce. Blakemore mediates on both financial and children issues and has significant international experience.

Mediation forms a substantial part of Rachel Woodd’s practice at Jones Nickolds. Woodd often receives referrals from central London law firms as well as those in Kent; she mediates in all family matters including financial and children. Her speciality is dealing with particularly acrimonious couples and those with complex relationships and issues.