Festive wishes and reflections on 2024
19 December 2024
Thank you and Merry Christmas!
As the year draws to a close and the Christmas season approaches, it is a perfect time to reflect on 2024, as well as to consolidate our plans for another exciting year ahead.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our colleagues, clients, partners and friends a joyful Christmas and a happy and successful 2025. We hope you enjoy a well-deserved break filled with fun, relaxation and festive cheer.
We are grateful for your continued support for and collaboration with Edward Cooke Family Law. It is a privilege not only to make a positive difference in a wide range of cases, guiding our clients through challenging times, but also to celebrate many other successes within our firm and team.
Our offices will be closed from 5pm on Monday 23 December and will reopen at 9am on Thursday 2 January 2025.
Reflections on 2024
In sharing a few of our 2024 highlights with you, we have been reflecting on another busy and memorable year at Edward Cooke Family Law. Both in family law and amongst our colleagues and community, these achievements are due to our incredible team, who work tirelessly to support our clients while fostering a positive and inspiring workplace.
Continuing our charity and community support initiatives
We think taking time to support charities and our community is an essential part of our business - and 2024 has been no exception.
This year, our efforts have supported charities and community initiatives, including: Opora, Off the Fence, Macmillan Cancer Support, the International Rescue Committee, Chestnut Tree House Children’s Hospice, Chichester Gala, the Festival of Chichester, Petworth Festival, Brighton Fringe, Grayshott Cricket Club and Surfers Against Sewage.
Our pro bono advice work with My Sister’s House has enabled this fantastic charity to extend the work it undertakes for vulnerable individuals who have experienced domestic abuse.
We are proud that our charity and community efforts benefit a wide range of organisations and the individuals and causes they work for. But this also brings our team together in working towards a common purpose and, of course, having fun along the way. Whether by sponsoring or supporting events, clearing litter from the beaches of the South Coast, or arranging concerts and cake sales, our team throw themselves into everything with great passion and enthusiasm and take pride in the results. In total we have raised almost £4,000 for charities this year.
Team and firm success
2024 marked our sixth birthday and we have welcomed two new specialist family lawyers to the team: Jelena Korobkova and Jamilla Sabo. Michelle Lewis celebrated achieving fully-qualified accredited status as a Family Mediator and Victoria Maxwell was promoted to Senior Associate Solicitor. Some exciting events are in store at the start of January, when our team will expand further, enhancing both our family law and mediation practices.
Both the firm and individuals within the team have once again been recognised at a national level. Edward Cooke won the Child-Inclusive Mediator Award at this month’s National Mediation Awards, whilst Victoria Maxwell was Highly Commended in the Rising Star category at the Resolution Awards. We are very proud that the firm was named Boutique Family Law Firm of the Year 2024 at The British Family Law Awards in January - and Employer of the Year Award 2024 at the Chichester & Bognor Business Awards in the summer.
In addition to these successes, we are thrilled to have been shortlisted in various other awards categories this year, in the Family Law Awards, British Family Law Awards and Resolution Awards.
The firm and our solicitors have continued our strong presence in both Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 and the firm was ranked in the top 250 UK firms in The Times Best Law Firms 2025.
Industry involvement and recognition
We continue to develop content for our website, social channels and the press on topics of interest in family law. Edward’s opinion piece on training was published in The Law Society Gazette in April, with further thought-provoking articles planned for 2025. As part of our support of Family Mediation Week, we published a series of informative blogs for clients on different aspects of mediation.
Victoria represented the intended parents in a complex international surrogacy case, which was published in the law reports on an anonymous basis in the hope that it may assist other families in the future.
Edward was invited to join the Family Solutions Group, a voluntary, not-for-profit group with shared values and aspirations, focused on the needs and rights of children whose parents live apart, as well as their separated parents, and is relishing the opportunity to contribute to their work.
Celebrating the success of our inaugural Southern Family Law Conference
As part of our pursuit of innovation in Family Law, we are delighted to have launched a new conference: the Southern Family Law Conference, which was held at the Sussex County Cricket Club in Brighton & Hove on Thursday 12 September. This vibrant day of discussion and learning centred on ‘Hot Topics and Future Trends’, bringing together some of the brightest minds in Family Law.
We were fortunate to secure a wonderful panel of speakers. Our thanks go to them, the delegates and our team for making this inaugural event such a resounding success, attended by over 100 practitioners.
We will be announcing plans for our next conference in the New Year.
With thanks and festive cheer
Thank you for taking the time to read our reflections on 2024 and for your collaboration and support this year.
With thanks to our wonderful team for making all this incredible activity take place in addition to our work with our clients.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas from all at Edward Cooke Family Law!
