Family Law

How our Family Law team works

We understand that your domestic or personal situation must have reached a serious stage if you need legal advice to help you clear things up. Our lawyers have many years’ experience of helping people in similar situations and will work tirelessly to secure the best outcome for you.

We offer a First Consultation with one of our three Family Law experts:, Debra Frazer, Giles Robinson, or Jessie Hansford. We pride ourselves on being able to identify every feasible option and explain them to you in clear, jargon-free terms. We will then help you choose the option that best suits you, tell you what to expect and explain how we will achieve our objectives

Our Client Charter

You, as the client, are at the centre of everything we do. If you tell us your story, we will explain your options, and together we will find the right one for you. We take great pride in our service and the Gaby Hardwicke Client Charter is our way of framing our commitment to you. We will adhere to it and expect to be held to account if we fail to deliver.

While our Family Law team provides caring support and sympathy, it is the focused way in which we, with you, identify what we can reasonably achieve and set about delivering it that sets us apart from other firms.

There are, of course, certain expectations we have of you. In particular, we need you to:

• Provide clear, timely and accurate instructions.
• Promptly let us have any documentation or information we request from you.

In return, we will:

• Work with you to resolve your matter, share your objectives and act in your best interests.
• Always be honest, straightforward and realistic with you and keep your business as confidential as we can.
• Explain the legal work that may be required, the timescales involved and, where appropriate, our prospects of success.
• Give you our best indication of the cost of your matter, or at least the cost of the next stage, both at the outset and as it progresses.
• Deal with your matter promptly and keep you regularly informed of our progress.
• Regularly review your matter with you, particularly when there is a significant change in circumstances, objectives, risks, the likely cost and benefits or the timescale.
• Try to avoid using technical legal language when writing to you or discussing your matter with you.
• Reply to your telephone calls, emails and letters promptly.

Your First Consultation

Your First Consultation usually lasts between 20 and 30 minutes. Please contact us to discuss charges for this meeting. If at the end of that meeting you decide not to instruct us, there will be no obligation to do so. We feel it’s important to establish first whether our professional services are needed. If they are not, then we will tell you. The First Consultation also gives us a chance to get to know one another, and you can decide whether our team of experts is right for you.

We will invite you to tell us – confidentially and face to face – about your problem. We can then evaluate the situation, explain your options and how we can resolve things. We do not normally need to see any documentation at the First Consultation, but if there is something you would like us to look at (such as letters from a court or your partner’s solicitors), feel free to bring it along.

What happens next

If you do decide to instruct us (unless we agree otherwise), we will send you:

• A summary of our discussions, outlining the instructions given and confirming our advice.
• If appropriate, a formal action plan.
• An engagement letter confirming the main terms of our service, including the likely costs.
• Our standard terms & conditions.

The First Consultation is an opportunity for you to tell us your story. After that our aim is to inform you and help you make the important decisions that need to be made to resolve your problems and enjoy a happier life.

Once we start work on your case, we will give you regular (typically monthly) updates and ensure that our original estimate holds firm. If it doesn’t, we will discuss the reasons with you and consider whether the plan needs to be changed. This means there are no nasty surprises for you and you remain in control of the process throughout.