But rest assured, because if your vision of a lawyer is of a dispassionate fee-generator, you couldn’t be further than the truth. Many of our top local Family Law specialists are no different from you – busy, family women whose personal life experience puts them in a unique position to truly understand what their clients are going through and to offer guidance as they would do to a personal friend.
Take Mwaah’s regular columnist for example, the sassy Joyti Henchie. Not only is she a Partner and Head of Family Law at Attwaters Solicitors based in both Harlow and Loughton, but Joyti is also a mum of three children under the age of 13 and her hubby is a city-based lawyer who works long and often unsociable hours.
‘Like many women, I like to work but want to be available for my family,’ says Joyti. ‘Experiencing challenges in my own life and rubbing shoulders with other mums and families has definitely shaped my approach to my work – it’s not about the winning or losing, it’s about achieving the best quality of future life for everyone involved in family matters.’
As a trusted Family Law specialist, not only is Joyti determined to offer world class customer service and legal advice, but also to help on wider issues. Sometimes this can just be pointing people towards other professionals or available resources that she holds dear in her own life:
‘The Parent Channel (www.theparentchannel.tv/home ) is just one of those resources. Wide ranging, relevant, well presented, and challenging, it’s great. It was recommended to me recently and I would thoroughly recommend it to others.
Worth noting is www.gotateenager.org.uk No prizes for guessing the subject here, but teenagers can be a constant worry and this source of advice and forum shares experiences which can freely help. A site which I feel offers insight is www.onlydads.org, coupled with sister site www.onlymums.org Both are great supports for single parents, whereas www.mumsnet.org.uk is always full of wonderful insight, virtual companionship and very active locally.
Along with many other legal practices up and down the country, Attwaters believes in a constructive, non-confrontational approach to family law – a collaborative process which you can find about on websites such as www.resolution.org.uk and
www.hertsfamilylaw.co.uk. Sites like these are good starting points in helping people feel confident in engaging the right sort of lawyer for them.
Finally, Harlow is the HQ for the Grandparents Association (www.grandparents-association.org.uk ) the only national organisation which supports grandparents and extended families who may be faced with legal and financial matters.
Please pass on these links for me. The more families who are aware of them, the better. I am also interested to hear of any other sites offering advice for families and parents that I can add to my growing library of resources. Helping families is at the heart of what we do, not just giving them legal advice.’
Joyti is a member of the Law Society Children Panel Accreditation scheme, the Law Society Family Law Accreditation scheme and an accredited Specialist of Resolution in Child Law and Advocacy. She can be contacted on 01279 638 888 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. '; document.write(''); document.write(addy_text62306); document.write('<\/a>'); //-->\n This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
