Otley, West Yorkshire ( Newsbox ) September 26, 2012 - A Harrogate family lawyer will line up alongside speakers from around the world next month to share his specialist legal knowledge.

"A Harrogate family lawyer will line up alongside speakers from around the world next month to share his specialist legal knowledge." [Pre-Approved Quote]

Stephen Root, who heads the family law department at Berwins Solicitors, will speak at the third annual collaborative law conference in Leeds on 5 October.Stephen has been practising family law since1985, and was one of the first accredited collaborative divorce lawyers in Harrogate.

The Northern Lights conference will bring together lawyers and family professionals to hear a range of speakers including family law specialists from the USA and some of the UK's most experienced collaborative family lawyers, alongside experts in child welfare, psychology, verbal and non-verbal communication.

The event is run by CFL North (www.cflnorth.co.uk), a group representing collaborative family professionals across the north of England. The group was established in 2009 to raise awareness of the collaborative process - which allows separating or divorcing couples to resolve the issues around their separation without going to court - and to help practitioners develop their collaborative caseload.

Stephen Root's workshop is aimed at newly qualified collaborative lawyers, or those who may have qualified a few years ago and are yet to experience a collaborative case. He says the workshop will give advice and tips to help family lawyers keep more cases out of court:

"Collaborative family law is still relatively new in the UK, but it is growing in popularity," he says. "The Northern Lights conferencehelps equip collaborative lawyers with the expertise and skills to develop this specialist area of family law, and I'm very much looking forward to being part of such an interesting and diverse event.

"There will be a lot of knowledge and advice imparted on the day that collaborative lawyers can take away and put into practice."

The conference is open to collaborative family lawyers and professionals throughout the UK. For the full schedule, visit http://northernlights.cflnorth.co.uk.

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