therese nichols
Partner
+44 (0)20 8541 2002
Therese.Nichols@russell-cooke.co.uk
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Therese is a Partner and Head of the Family Law Team. She has extensive experience in advising married, co-habiting and civil partnership clients who are facing a relationship breakdown and assists them in resolving questions regarding income, division of capital, pensions etc and in establishing a workable parenting plan in cases where children are involved.
Therese also advises clients at the start of a relationship in relation to pre-nuptial agreements prior to marriage and co-habitation contracts for couples who reside together. Her experience in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods is ideally suited to helping clients negotiate pre-relationship agreements.
As an accredited mediator, collaborative family lawyer, and family litigator, Therese is committed to helping clients match the process that best suits them and their family, reaching a lasting outcome in a constructive, practical, tailored and cost effective manner.
She is recognised as a ‘leading individual' in Chambers who commented "she is particularly highly regarded for alternative dispute resolution" (Chambers 2011) and "she deals with a major part of her work through ADR handling both children issues and matrimonial finance". Clients praise her for "strong technical knowledge, excellent communication skills and strong commitment" (Chambers 2012).
Therese has specialised in Family Law since 1980 and has practised as a Family mediator from 1997, obtaining the first Family Mediation Franchise for a law firm in South-West London in 1999. She became an accredited mediator in 2001 and has been appointed onto the Government list of mediators to undertake Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings (MIAMS) - now a pre-requisite for clients going to court in April 2011. Therese trained as a civil mediator in February 2011 and so works with both the civil and traditional family models of mediation thus offering a wide variation to suit what clients want both in costs and timer.
Therese was in the first group of 15 UK solicitors who trained to become collaborative lawyers in September 2003. She has been the Head of and Pod Liason Officer for Thameside Collaborative Lawyers for six years. In this role she has had responsibility for arranging and / or presenting successful seminars and training sessions for collaborative professionals including lawyers, family consultants and independent financial advisers. Therese is a member of Resolution and the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (ICAP) and is a regular attendee at their annual seminars.
She regularly contributes practical articles on family law and ADR to appropriate journals.