Family Law
Thorley Stephenson’s family law department is at the forefront of private client and legal aid representation in all aspects of family law.
At the beginning of 2008 the department consisted solely of partners Mark Thorley and Julian Aitken. Since then, the success of the department has led to ongoing expansion to meet the demands of the ever growing client base. In early 2008 Associate Solicitor Nina Taylor joined the firm with Ruth Gallacher and Lisa Rae further enhancing the team in 2010. Thorley Stephenson’s commitment to bringing forward young talented solicitors is clearly seen within the family law department with trainee solicitors regularly undertaking work to assist the principal solicitor. The secretarial staff within the family law team all have extensive experience of dealing with family law cases and are dedicated to that area of work on a day by day basis. The team, now numbering five qualified solicitors, two trainee solicitors and five secretaries, has been nominated for the family law team of the year award at both the 2010 and 2011 Law Awards of Scotland.
With all the solicitors experienced in dealing with all aspects of family law and all regularly appearing in court, each one conducts, on average, 200 Child Welfare Hearings a year in addition to Evidential Proof Hearings, Debates and Appeals. Informally, within the wider family law department, the public child law team of Julian Aitken and Lisa Rae continue to provide a high level of service to birth families in cases involving compulsory social work care of children. Mark Thorley, with over 20 years of experience, deals primarily with the financial aspects of divorce, as do Nina Taylor and Ruth Gallacher.
The family law team’s position at the forefront of the development of Scottish law is evidenced by the increasing number of law reports containing Thorley Stephenson case law, particularly in relation to cases involving relocation abroad of children, the Children’s Hearing system and the new permanence order/adoption legislation introduced by the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007.
