Family Law Advice for the Neurodivergent Community (FLANC)

Thank you to Legal Action Group for featuring the work of FLANC this month. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/ewjUXS_j

Thank you so much to Samantha Downes and Siobhan Jeffels for organising a fantastic Brighter Future (CFL North) Northern Lights conference. We thoroughly enjoyed the talks we were able to attend before zipping back to London and it was a pleasure to deliver a keynote talk on behalf of Family Law Advice for the Neurodivergent Community (FLANC). We made some really wonderful connections and are buzzing from the warm welcome we received in Leeds and the interest in the work of FLANC and our @Duncan Lewis specialist family team supporting neurodivergent clients. We have definitely made new friends. Time for a quick celebratory drink in Kings Cross before we head home! The Workplace Collective Adele Ballantyne Cansford Laboratories Ltd. OurFamilyWizard Clarion Solicitors Duncan Lewis Solicitors Beck Fitzgerald Coram Chambers

What an excellent Inaugural East London Family Justice Board Conference yesterday! Hosted by HHJ Atkinson, the theme of the event was Relationships and with around 300 attendees, a keynote address from our President and closing remarks from Mr Justice Macdonald, it was a complete success. There was a fascinating line up of speakers and it was an opportunity to make some excellent connections to help progress the work of Family Law Advice for the Neurodivergent Community (FLANC). It was a pleasure to join the panel discussion on neurodiversity, chaired by deborah piccos, along with my friend and colleague Sarah Cockburn (Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service), Dr Sam Porter (perinatal psychiatrist) and Helena Ware (ISW). I spoke about the soon to be published FJC guidance for practitioners on supporting neurodivergent adults in the family justice system and the use of All about Me documents. I was grateful to everyone, including Judges, who spoke to me afterwards to say how impactful my talk was and to express their desire to understand more about this subject. Thank you to Victoria Roberts of Coram Chambers for inviting me to speak and for such a wonderful and beautifully organised conference. It meant a lot to me personally to speak in Whitechapel - not only was that where I started my career but the conference venue, which is now LBTH Town Hall, is the old Royal London Hospital buliding, which is the place my mum was born in 1949. Little did anyone know that 75 years later I’d be standing in the same place promoting better practices around neurodivergence within the family justice and child protection system… life certainly works in mysterious ways! www.FLANC.org.uk

I am really looking forward to speaking at the East London LFJB inaugural conference this Wednesday in Whitechapel. The location is particularly meaningful to me as Whitechapel is where I started my career twenty years ago as a trainee solicitor to Jenny Beck KC (Hon)…..can’t believe it’s been that long… and now we get to work together again with Family Law Advice for the Neurodivergent Community (FLANC)! It will be great to hear and meet this wonderful line up of speakers, including a keynote address from our President, Sir Andrew McFarlane.

So excited to have been invited to speak at Resolution - South West London about neurodivergence and the family justice system, offering practical tips and guidance for practitioners. Can’t wait to meet you all! Katie Deans Family Law Advice for the Neurodivergent Community (FLANC) Coram Chambers

One of our founding members, Flora Hughes, will be running a marathon in France on 3rd November 2024 to raise funds in support of Family Law Advice for the Neurodivergent Community (FLANC). The journey will take her 26 miles along the hilly coastline from Nice, ending in Cannes. FLANC is a non-profit organisation dedicated to ensuring that the neurodivergent community has equal access to justice by addressing barriers to participation in family proceedings and dispute resolution. By some estimates around 1 in 5 people are neurodivergent. Your donation will go towards supporting individuals through the family justice system by providing reasonable adjustments, helping to secure mandatory training for professionals and awareness raising. If you are able to donate any amount to support this important cause we would be immensely grateful: https://lnkd.in/ewewj-mF Run Flora run 🏃♀️❤️

We are very much looking forward to presenting at the Northern Lights Conference on 22 November. What a great opportunity to expand the reach of our work up north and to discuss ways we can provide better access to justice for neurodivergent parties in private family proceedings. See details below!

What a fantastic experience I had today, speaking at the Legal Neurodiversity Network (LNN) panel event on Supporting Parent-Carers of neurodivergent family members in legal services. It was wonderfully refreshing to have an open and honest discussion about how having neurodivergent children impacts us as lawyers and how we can raise awareness of this amongst legal employers and the wider profession. This will hopefully mean less talented parent-carer lawyers having to make the difficult decision to give up years of hard work to focus on caring and open up avenues for more flexible, emotionally intelligent and reasonably adjusted working practises. I spoke about the morning that I realised my son Orson, then aged 2, was autistic and the impact this had on me personally and on my work as a children’s solicitor. In the early days I found it really challenging but I was lucky that my son’s needs and my family support was such that I didn’t have to give up work. Latterly, positive things have transpired professionally from being a parent-carer, including the birth of Duncan Lewis Solicitors’ specialist autism and adhd care proceedings team, which we established last year and this year, Co-founding Family Law Advice for the Neurodivergent Community (FLANC). I was able to relate to the experiences of the other panel members and it was fantastic to play a part in the legal aid and corporate worlds converging on a shared endeavour, to shine a spotlight on the human challenges many of us face on a daily basis and which unite us despite our differing personal and professional backgrounds. Despite the significant daily challenges I face as a parent-carer, I wouldn’t change a thing as my autistic son is amazing, and I have learnt more about life in the past 10 years of being his mum than in the 34 years before he was born. He’s also been the inspiration for Family Law Advice for the Neurodivergent Community (FLANC) and the monumental changes within family justice and child protection practices that will flow from our work. That’s one hell of an achievement at the age of 10! Thank you to LNN for the commendable work you are doing and for inviting me to join the panel with George Swan, James Smither, Caroline Withers and Peter Pears. It was lovely to meet you all in person and to catch up with my friend and fellow parent-carer Reena Anand. Thank you also to Freshfields for hosting!

What a superb day yesterday at the 2024 Milton Keynes and Bucks Local Family Justice Board Conference, the theme of which supporting neurodivergent children and parents in family proceedings. Jenny Beck KC (Hon) and Alia Lewis joined a fantastic panel of speakers to share invaluable experience along with personal and professional insight on this crucial subject. Jenny provided an update on the FJC best practice guidance on supporting neurodivergent parties in family proceedings (publication of which is imminent) and the recent Nuffield Family Justice Observatory research and Alia spoke about how to support neurodivergent children in foster care. The President of the Family Division Sir Andrew McFarlane opened the conference chaired by HHJ Perusko and which included fascinating talks by: HHJ Maclachlan, Dr Bryn Williams, Sarah Cockburn Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service), Sarah Lowe (ParentAssess), Helen Little & Frances Harris (Harcourt - Family Law) and Della Jackson. On our mission to reform family justice to make the system fair and accessible for neurodivergent parties, it was wonderful to have senior members of the judiciary present and to hear the supportive closing comments by Mrs Justice Henke who highlighted that no matter your seniority there is always something new you can learn. We will be publishing details of our talks on our website in due course and will notify our followers on LinkedIn once this is done. www.flanc.org.uk Duncan Lewis Solicitors Beck Fitzgerald Coram Chambers Fauzia Mumani Sheena Vadher Jasmine Hollis Flora Hughes Caroline Croft

A massive thank you to Resolution for awarding us the Innovation Champion of the 2024 Resolution Awards! We are so grateful and so excited to continue the important and innovative work we are doing in improving access to justice for the neurodivergent community! And thank you to HHJ Esther Maclachlan, Dr Tom Grange, Rob George, Rohini Jana and Sarah Cockburn for joining us tonight to celebrate! Jenny Beck KC (Hon) Alia Lewis Caroline Croft Jasmine Hollis Fauzia Mumani Flora Hughes Sheena Vadher #Resolution #ResolutionAwards2024 #FamilyLaw #FamilyJustice #Neurodivergence #Neurodiversity