Our own tools

Our own tools

Talking a good innovation game is one thing, bringing ideas and new technologies to their real application is another. Our continued investment in technology has resulted in the launch of two unique tools which have been developed in response to real challenges faced by clients and our fellow professionals in the family law space.

Family Law Lab

Family Law Partners have set up Family Law Lab. At Family Law Lab, we have set ourselves the challenge of tackling the problems we see family law practitioners and their clients struggle with every day.

Family Law Lab has created Engage. Engage is a web application that helps your prospective clients, in their own time, put together all the information you require ahead of your first meeting; ensuring you can provide bespoke advice from the moment you meet. Engage enhances the initial consultation for both the lawyer, as they have all the facts, and for the client, as they feel prepared and educated ahead of the meeting. The application automatically passes the information to you before the initial consultation. Engage provides you with a summary of key aspects and known risk factors so you can crack on and do the job you’re trained for.

Read Alan Larkin’s vlog on the development of our various innovation tools here:

Child Maintenance Calculator

Our Child Maintenance Calculator was created as a result of what we believed were serious drawbacks to the Child Maintenance Agency’s (CMA) own tool.

Time and time again, we would come across clients (and lawyers) who had found the CMA’s calculator tricky to use at best, infuriatingly flimsy at worst. We designed our calculator to plug these gaps, and include unique features that would enable parents to reach an agreement on a child maintenance figure:

• Easy-capture, easy share – the resulting calculation is documented in a format that can be instantly shared with the co-parent
• Greater accuracy- a larger number of inputs (including the level of gross income entered or the level of pension contributions) provides a more accurate calculation for both parents.
• PDF export – the calculation can be exported and emailed to your own inbox, as well as to a third party such as the parent’s lawyer or mediator.
• Mobile and tablet-friendly – unlike the CMA tool, the calculator can be used across multiple devices.

To date, the calculator has been used more than 1400 times and calculated over £20 million of support. It is available for free to parents and their legal advisors in England and Wales, and can be accessed here.