Lawyers are used to being at the receiving end of public criticism, especially from high-profile figures – nonetheless, some lawyers were surprised to be on the receiving end of criticism by a former chair of the Bar Standards Board.

Baroness Deech (Ruth Deech DBE KC) has long called for a review of the laws governing finance on divorce, pressing the government repeatedly on the issue in the House of Lords.

A year after the government promised a review would be coming ‘within a matter of weeks’, the Law Commission announced this week that it had begun preliminary work on the project.

‘The Law Commission is going to look at reform of the way money is split on divorce. At last. (It will upset the many lawyers who depend on this complicated and unfair law…).’

Fair to say her tweet did not go down well with some lawyers.

‘Not so, Baroness Deech. That is grossly unfair,’ replied Dexter Montague’s Tony Roe. ‘As a family law solicitor and arbitrator I welcome this review. For one thing, qualifying nuptial agreements should be brought in.’

Property barrister Faisel Sadiq responded: 'Most lawyers spend an enormous amount of time trying to do themselves out of work by encouraging settlement. It's disappointing that having chaired the Bar Standards Board for five years, you tweet this old trope.'

‘We don’t depend on it,’ said Marjha Golding-Evans, a specialist family partner at RDP Lawyers. ‘We are hamstrung by the outdated discretionary powers and the absence of enshrined principles, and our clients are plagued by it. The sooner reforms are put in place, the sooner clients and their children/families will benefit.’

‘Glad to hear reform is backed at last,’ Deech replied.

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