Family Mediation: Contemporary Issues

Provides a contemporary account of current practice and research developments concerning family mediation across a range of issues in the UK and Ireland.

Marian Roberts is a family mediator; qualified as a barrister and social worker; former Visiting Fellow and Guest Teacher on the ADR Law Masters at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Professorial Research Associate at SOAS, University of London.

Dr Maria Federica Moscati is Reader in Law and Society at the University of Sussex, where she was previously a Senior Lecturer in Family Law. She is an Italian advocate and trained mediator and holds a PhD from SOAS. Before undertaking her doctorate she worked for Save the Children Italy where she specialised in children's rights. Her main research interests lie in issues relating to ADR, access to justice, comparative family law, human rights with a focus on children, and LGBTIQ+ people. She is co-director of the Centre for Cultures of Reproduction, Technology and Health, and joint editor of Mediation Theory and Practice. Maria combines research with activism in support of LGBTIQ+ people.

Lesley Allport has had a long career as a mediation practitioner, spanning the last 30 years. Working initially as a family mediator in the 1980s, she has been involved in developing new areas of practice such as special educational needs mediation and disability conciliation. She mediates conflicts within families, workplaces and education settings, as well as having experience in community mediation and cross-border child abduction cases. Lesley delivers foundation mediation training in several contexts and offers advanced training for supervisors and mediators working directly with children. She has a keen interest in developing professional standards. She is currently Vice Chair of the College of Mediators and acts as an adviser to the Professional Standards Committee. She also sits on the editorial board of the College journal Mediation Theory and Practice. Lesley's academic interest in mediation began in 2005 with a European master's degree, as part of which she developed a model of supervision specific to mediation. In 2016 she successfully completed her PhD with the Birmingham Law School, examining the comparative growth of mediation. Her research included conversations with many mediators working in a variety of contexts and investigated core aspects of mediation practice operating across all sectors.

Anne Barlow FAcSS is Professor of Family Law and Policy at the University of Exeter. She specialises in family law and policy research, and has published widely in the field. Between 2011 and 2014, she led the three-year interdisciplinary study Mapping Paths to Family Justice, looking at out-of-court dispute resolution of private family law issues, which was funded by the Economic Social and Research Council (ESRC). She also led a follow-on impact study, Creating Paths to Family Justice (2015-19), where she and the Mapping Paths research team worked with a number of agencies - including OnePlusOne, Relate, the Ministry of Justice, the Family Mediation Council (FMC), Resolution and the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) - to draw on research findings to develop online and offline mediation services for separating couples and children. Anne was appointed as the Academic Member of the Family Justice Council from 2011-15 and in 2014 she served as a member of the government's Task Force on Family Mediation. Her book, Mapping Paths to Family Justice: Resolving Family Disputes in Neoliberal Times (Palgrave, 2017), co-authored with the Mapping Paths research team (Rosemary Hunter, Janet Smithson and Jan Ewing), also won the Hart-Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA) book prize in 2018.

Lorraine Bramwell is a well-established national trainer of mediators and directs one of the few mediation training courses that has recognition from both the Family Mediation Standards Board (FMSB) and the College of Mediators. She is a family and civil and commercial mediator and has been in continuous practice since 1995. Lorraine has a master's degree in Mediation and Conflict Resolution, a degree in Psychology and a postgraduate diploma in Applied Social Studies. She has held the positions of both Director and Chair of the College of Mediators, is Chair of the College's Professional Standards Committee and continues to play an active role in the development of mediation standards. Lorraine is an Approved Member of the College of Mediators and holds FMC accreditation. She also teaches mediation skills at university level and is an assessor for the accreditation of professional mediators for the FMC. Lorraine acts as PPC to a number of other practitioners and services, and has pioneered work in the support of new mediators entering the mediation profession.