GARDNER WILDBLOOD
The alternative to litigation for families
“Because litigation
should be the last resort”
- Stephen Wildblood KC
families must be supported
Stephen Wildblood KC and Dr Freda Gardner are both firmly of the opinion that families must be supported to avoid destructive and expensive adversarial litigation. They believe that litigation in the Family court should be considered only as a last resort.
Far too many families enter into litigation, thinking that ‘right’ (as they perceive it) will prevail and have little understanding of the procedures or the emotional and financial impact of what they are about to do.
It is only after entering into proceedings that they realise litigation has pushed them even further apart, and has caused harm to all of the family.
Stephen and Freda will work together with families to help them find an effective alternative to the distress and expense of adversarial family litigation. They bring together over 40 years of experience as a family barrister, KC and Judge, and over 25 years’ experience as a clinical psychologist and expert witness. Their work will involve them meeting with families to help achieve effective and enduring family outcomes.
Stephen and Freda work across the full spectrum of family issues, including those related to children, finances and relationships.
With their joint experience, they are able to work with families in a way that respects all family members, the need to preserve family finances and the need to move beyond the process of separation.
What is the comprehensive resolution model?
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comprehensive
Gardner Wildblood bring together the leading experts in psychological mediation and financial arbitration to offer resolution for all the key disputes after a family breakdown.
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collaborative
An alternative to the adversarial Court process, we use our expertise and skills to bring resolution to difficult situations without rancour or division, limiting the harm and distress to children.
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cost-effective
Litigation is slow and extremely expensive. The comprehensive resolution model is responsive to family’s needs, and focuses on finding a way forward that fits.
“WE COULDN’T HAVE GOT THROUGH THIS WITHOUT FREDA. HOWEVER HARD THINGS GOT, I KNEW SHE PUT OUR CHILDREN FIRST.”
-JA. A parent who had been through the resolution process.
Finding a way forward
We know that separations that end up in Court are distressing, expensive, and painful.
We also know that it is difficult to recover and to parent children together after such an adversarial and lengthy Court process.
A different way, a better way
In their many years work with families stuck in this process, Dr Freda Gardner and Stephen Wildblood KC have seen at first hand the enormous impact that such proceedings have had on children and their futures.
Gardner Wildblood offer a family-led, collaborative and cost-effective alternative to lengthy and painful litigation.
Through sensitive, thoughtful, effective work, families can find a way forward, emotionally and financially, where every member of the family can move on and thrive.
Stephen Wildblood KC and Dr Freda Gardner bring decades of expertise from very different fields, combining them to offer truly effective help to move forward after separation.
About Dr Freda Gardner
Dr Gardner is the Clinical Director and lead Consultant Clinical Psychologist. She has worked with parents and children since 1989, helping families resolve various kinds of difficulties and challenges.
As well as working therapeutically with families and children, Dr Gardner has been an expert in the Family Courts since 2000 and has seen at first hand the effect that these proceedings can have on families. She is determined to offer an alternative path to resolution.
About Stephen Wildblood KC
Stephen Wildblood practised in Family Law for 27 years from Albion Chambers in Bristol, the last 8 ½ years being as Queen’s Counsel. His work at the bar was divided equally between cases concerning children and those concerning the financial arrangements following divorce and separation. As a QC (now KC) he dealt with the most complex cases in all fields of Family law.
Stephen began sitting as a part-time judge in 1995 and was appointed as a Deputy High Court Judge in 2004. In 2009 he became a Circuit Judge and, for the first seven years after his appointment, he sat in Devon and Cornwall, hearing Family, Criminal and Civil cases. In 2013 he was appointed as the Designated Family Judge for the five counties in and around Bristol. Thereafter he heard only Family cases, in the Family and High Courts, dealing with the full range of Family issues.
Stephen has written and contributed to over twenty legal textbooks and continues to write on issues of law. He is the general editor and a contributor to the encyclopaedic work, Wildblood and Eaton – Financial Provision in Family Matters. He writes on issues relating to children in Butterworths Family Law Service and for The Family Court Practice (‘the Red Book’).