Maeve advises on a wide range of family issues for both married and unmarried clients, including separation and divorce, financial disputes following the breakdown of a marriage or relationship, children’s issues including Residence and/or Contact and international relocation/leave to remove children cases.
Besides having been a Family Mediator since the late 1990s, Maeve is also a Collaborative Lawyer and was amongst the first group of family law professionals in this country to train in this skill with a well-known US Collaborative Lawyer, Pauline Tesler, in 2003. She was a founder member of the UK Collaborative Family Practice Group and a member of its Steering Committee until 2006. She has been providing this service as an option for family clients since 2004.
Maeve is also a member of Resolution (formerly known as The Solicitors’ Family Law Association) – an organisation of over 5,000 specialist family practitioners committed to promoting fair and conciliatory solutions to the issues arising at times of family breakdown or crisis. She is a member of various professional bodies and organisations, including The Law Society’s Family and Family Mediation Panels and the Family Mediators’ Association.
In accordance with the Code of Practice of Resolution and The Law Society’s Family Law Protocol, Maeve aims to deal with matters in a sensitive, constructive and cost effective manner. Whilst court proceedings are sometimes necessary, for example to prevent dissipation of assets or to protect a client experiencing domestic abuse, nearly all her matters result in a negotiated settlement.
Maeve was educated at Cambridge University and the College of Law in London. She joined her previous firm, Edward Fail Bradshaw & Waterson, in January 1988 as an assistant solicitor to head up the family law department and was promoted to become a partner the following year. Maeve joined Silverman Sherliker in 2006.
One thing you may be interested to know about Maeve is that she has a keen interest in the theatre and literature.