ABSTRACT

It is now two decades since it was realised by practitioners that family law in general, and paradoxically divorce law in particular, could not be regarded as just another aspect of civil litigation, although for the first 130 years since the initial Matrimonial Causes Act was passed in 1857 there were few lawyers who realised this and fewer still who adopted an approach to family law work which reflected such a view. The Solicitors Family Law Association (SFLA), a well known group of specialist practitioners founded in 1982, must be credited with taking the significant step of introducing a constructive and civilised approach to the resolution of legal matters following matrimonial breakdown.