Innovate Family Law - Meet our Finalists
The Legal Forecast, Brisbane Family Law Centre and Family Law Matters joined forces to introduce the very first round of Innovate Family Law. Our closing event went off with a bang, with our incredible finalists, Wen Gao, Kat Williamson and Peter Varga pitching their innovative solutions to improving access to the Court and alternative Court-based remedies for vulnerable parties. We had an incredible panel of Judges – Hon Colin Forrest SC, Clarissa Rayward, (Brisbane Family Law Centre) and Antonella Sanderson (Family Law Matters) who were blown away by the pitches.
Innovate Family Law ran over a four-week period, encouraging law students and early career professionals to get innovative, collaborative and think outside of the box. Mid-way through, Innovate’s own Kiarah Grace Kelly and Director of The Legal Forecast, Milan Gandhi provided our participants with an exciting workshop on Family Law and Pitching for Change.
Introducing Wen Gao
Family Lawyer Wen, took out first place with her practical and innovative suggestions for the Family Court website. Demonstrating her passion for family law and improving access to the Court’s system, Wen pitched strong, sustainable and well-informed suggestions to increasing accessibility for vulnerable parties.
Wen called for an update to the Online Application form for Divorce to encourage simplicity for users. Wen undertook a comparison of the Family Court Website and Queensland Law Courts website “Applying for a Domestic Violence Order” to highlight the complexity and confusion in our family Court’s functionality. Wen pitched towards a reduction of the filing fee for sole Divorce Applications for victims of domestic violence, to encourage better access and reduce financial restrictions for vulnerable parties seeking Divorce Orders.
Next, Wen pitched towards auto-emailing of Divorce Orders and automation of time limit reminders following the grant of Divorce Orders for property settlements. Wen additionally, discussed automation and the need for automated Financial Statement calculations and section 139A Orders, to increase efficiency of Court forms.
Wen blew our Judges away with her practicable approaches to increasing access to the Court’s services:
Introducing Kat Williamson
Law Student Kat, pitched towards compulsory Individual Separation Counselling and Family Education prior to filing Initiating Applications. Kat presented a compelling 12-step process to reaching final settlement for parenting and property matters with a focus towards education and empowerment of clients.
The first step involves compulsory counselling and family education for parties, focussing on both the individual, wellbeing and the best interests of the children, this step being significant in reducing distress and long-term issues for parties and children.
Step two is about the children and empowering discussions - this step introduces family counselling, family parenting plans, and encouraging Family Dispute Resolution for any unresolved issues.
Step three is about practicing the plan - this step involves reviewing the parenting plan to consider what is and what is not working, and the potential to seek a Family Report to ensure the effectiveness of the plan and seeking if appropriate, binding Court Orders for parenting.
The final step is to reach final property settlement - this step educates with Financial Toolkit workbooks, introduces Financial Advisors and calls for Family Dispute Resolution in reaching final agreements.
Kat’s focus on empowerment and education, and introduction of a 12-step approach demonstrated a practical and innovative approach to reaching final settlements and improving access to Court’s services.
Finally, introducing Peter Varga
Law Student Peter, focussed on children and the prevalence of negative child outcomes, self-harm and parental detachment for children of separated parents. Peter highlighted, that to improve wellbeing for children of separated families and to encourage better outcomes for parties and children, non-legal professionals by way of psychotherapy should be accessible to parties, in combination with alternative dispute resolution.
Peter additionally called for the introduction of a parenting coordinator to liaise directly with parties, educate and promote access to educational programmes, incorporate safeguards for both parents and children and to encourage negotiation and mediation. The purpose of which to reduce the impact of proceedings on children, encourage amicability and resilience, educate parties and children, reduce costs, reduce undue delay and reliance on court systems.
Peter’s focus on children and avoiding negative long-term outcomes was well-researched, innovative and encouraged collaboration of non-legal services.
Our finalists blew our Judges away with their innovative and practical solutions, taking a step towards encouraging innovative thinking and sparking meaningful change in the family law space.