Tears of joy and relief

Dear Richard,

When I started along this horrible and upsetting process of the breakdown of my marriage and the death of my dreams of a happy family, I saw my world, my life, collapsing around me and it was the worst time of my life. I cannot thank you enough. I'm not sure I yet comprehend just how amazing a result today was at the final children's proceedings hearing it will take a long time to sink in and I now know what it means to cry tears of joy and relief, having had my parenting restricted, experienced huge acrimony from my soon-to-be ex, being powerless to support my children properly through lack of proper contact in a dictated parenting schedule which itself was reducing every time I sought more contact and seeing my children continue to suffer. I might never be able to express what today means to me and my children.

This is a thank you, a heartfelt, deep thank you for not just being the best family lawyer there is, but for being someone who had themselves walked in similar shoes at one point and therefore understood what I was going through, could anticipate and work with me to guide and advise me well beyond law. Your approach of incorporating advice to educate me about communication and conflict resolution to understand how dispute operates to bring out the worst outcomes when there is another way. Thanks for your sage advice and navigation of these treacherous legal seas and onwards through the process, with its frequent and often bizarre events. Your approach is not the simple horse-trading, adversarial high street family law that so many end up with and therefore not the disastrous high street outcomes that some divorcing parents end up with. It is a holistic and deeper approach than most lawyers even understand, let alone are capable of.

It's not many times in life when a person can say that a lawyer transformed their currently dreadful life into a wonderful future full of hope and dreams again. Dreams of a different future than I originally wanted on my wedding day, but much better ones than I could have hoped for in the depths of dispute, conflict, acrimony and withheld contact.

An immeasurable "Thank You!" from me and my boys