Family Mediation Week is taking place this year between the 22nd and 26th of January 2024. This is an annual initiative for the mediation community to come together to help raise the profile of family mediation and the benefits this can offer to couples who are experiencing or have experienced family breakdown and have issues that need to be resolved.
The new year typically sees a rise in the number of parents deciding to live apart as the various pressures that go hand-in-hand with the Christmas period can act as the final straw, or as a result of delaying action or a decision until the festive period has passed.
Family Mediation Week is designed to raise awareness of the benefits of family mediation, a process that can help ex-partners agree on what works for them, whilst avoiding an adversarial process such as Court with all the stress, delay and cost it can bring.
When faced with separation often find people in this position simply don’t know which way to turn. The decision to separate brings with it so many tough questions:
- Who lives where?
- What about debts and pensions?
- And even the family dog or cat?
- Where will the children live, and how will we make sure we each spend time with them?
- How will we sort money?
What is Family Mediation?
Family mediation is a process where an independent, professionally-trained mediator helps you work these things out, enabling you to avoid courtroom confrontation. Professional mediators help empower you to create long-term solutions for your particular circumstances, rather than leaving it to a court to make decisions for your family.
What is Family Mediation Week?
Family Mediation Week, organised by the Family Mediation Council which is a not-for-profit organisation whose aim is to promote the use of family mediation for the benefit of the public, shines a helpful spotlight on these tricky issues, offering separating couple’s information about their options as they look to make arrangements for parenting, property and finance.
The Family Mediation Council will be running a series of events for the public during the week including a webinar about how mediation can work with high-conflict personalities.
Further information can be found at Events for the Public – Family Mediation Council.
Talk To Our Expert.
Lisa Buckridge is a Family Mediation Council accredited mediator, solicitor and Director of Purcell Solicitors and offers both face-to-face or online mediation, offering flexibility for your particular circumstances. No separating couple will be the same and Lisa will ensure your mediation is arranged in a way that works best for the people using it and has access to a wealth of additional experts to assist in the mediation process should this be helpful or needed in your particular circumstances.
Purcell Solicitors is also taking part in the Ministry of Justice’s Family Mediation Voucher Scheme, which meets up to £500 of mediation costs for families if they need to discuss arrangements for children. Legal aid also remains available for family mediation – although not offered at Purcell Solicitors, please visit the Family Mediation Council website to find details of mediators who offer legal aid.
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Director – SRA number: 494434
Lisa Buckridge is a Director at Purcell Solicitors and has over 20 years of experience in family law. She qualified in the early 2000s and became a director of the firm in October 2015. She holds accreditation as a Family Mediation Council-accredited Mediator, obtained in 2022, and is one of a small number of lawyer-mediators qualified to carry out Child Inclusive Mediation. She is also a trained collaborative lawyer and hybrid mediator.
Lisa handles the full range of family law matters, including divorce, financial settlements, children proceedings, pre- and post-nuptial agreements, and cohabitation disputes. Her referrals come principally from solicitors, including London-based practices, the local judiciary, and former clients, a pattern that reflects her standing in the field. She has worked on cases involving a terminal health diagnosis and cases in which the opposing party was a specialist family law barrister.
Chambers and Partners ranks Lisa in Band 3 for Family/Matrimonial in the Thames Valley in the UK Guide 2026. She has also been spotlighted specifically for her mediation practice in the Family/Matrimonial Mediators: Thames Valley category. Chambers describes her as “an excellent solicitor who robustly and effectively represents her clients’ interests” and as “incredibly clever” with the ability to “construct cases perfectly”.
Her reported cases include Re R (a child) EWCA Civ 35, in which the Court of Appeal held that a judge had erred by failing to properly evaluate a child’s wishes or to hear evidence from a CAFCASS officer before departing from that officer’s recommendation. She also acted in Scotching and Birch EWHC 844 (Ch), a case concerning burial arrangements and letters of administration following the death of a child; the case has since been cited in several academic papers and journal articles.
Lisa is a member of Resolution and is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA number: 494434). She can be contacted at lisa@purcellsolicitors.co.uk.