Holland Family Law firm, based in Leicester, has announced the launch of its Early Neutral Evaluation (ENE) service available to anyone in the UK in need of family law advice. The new service is a confidential, flexible, non-biased type of alternative dispute resolution.
ENE offers a way of settling family disputes, identifying early on what the issues are and whether they can be resolved. The new service helps people caught up in family disputes to save time, cut legal costs, and reduce stress.
Holland Family Law’s Early Neutral Evaluation service works well in the early stages of a dispute, well before the need to consider going to Court, and it involves working with an independent and impartial evaluator who will consider the issues and then provide a neutral preliminary view of the likely outcome.
ENE can be particularly beneficial when the evaluator is a senior family law solicitor. The experience that such an evaluator can bring to the conflict at an early stage can, if the parties are willing to listen – even if it is not quite what they want to hear, really aid resolution.
Unlike mediation, the role of an ENE evaluator is to provide a sharp focus on the issues in hand and give their opinion on what a Court might say. An ENE specialist will consider the issues and then provide an indication as to a likely outcome. This indication is not a final and binding decision – just an indication based on years of specialist experience.
The rationale is that the neutral and realistic insight into the outcome of the issues can be a valuable tool for the parties to be realistic about their respective positions, which in turn can facilitate agreement being reached, thereby reducing acrimony and cost.
Holland Family Law has appointed Jennifer McNeil as the firm’s Evaluator. She is a Director of Holland Family Law, and has over 18 years of experience in family law. McNeil deals with all aspects of family law including the arrangements for children with separated parents and the division of assets on divorce.
Ms McNeil has a firm grasp of the legal issues affecting such disputes and the significant impact such disputes have on her own clients, which she is keen to minimise.
Ms McNeil said: “The opportunity to resolve family disputes with minimal legal involvement is an honour. It means more issues are settled amicably, keeping cases out of Court, which not only saves time and money, but eases emotional distress and allows people to move on with their lives.”
Ms McNeil advocates for her clients in Court giving her a rounded understanding of how the Court might determine such issues. If instructed early enough in her own cases, she is often able to resolve the dispute without it ever reaching a Court application, which is a daunting undertaking for clients.
