Divorce: Stronger ADR focus
The family law market grew more strongly than expected last year, taking its total value to almost £2.2bn as firms look to offer more holistic services and embrace AI, according to new research.
It said the family law market grew by 5.4% in 2024, well ahead of predicted growth rate of 4.5%, and the annual growth rate for the market to 2028 is now forecast at 5%.
In the UK Family Law Market Trends Report 2025, IRN Legal Reports said the number of law firms doing family work fell marginally by 55 to 4,709 in 2025, although part of a decline of 400 in the past four years.
IRN said the growth in mostly unregulated online divorce websites, which became more popular during Covid, has now “come to a halt”, partly because traditional law firms were offering digital divorce services at “relatively low-cost fixed fees”.
It estimated that online divorce services had a market share of 9% in 2022, rising to 11% in 2023, but remained static in 2024 at “about 10-11%”.
Researchers said the ‘one lawyer, one couple’ approach, which was becoming “commonplace” for couples going through a no-fault divorce, might have a “negative impact” on the amount of revenue coming into the family law market, but couples would still need advice on financial assets and arrangements for children.
Financial remedy case starts grew by 3.9% to over 45,000 last year, up from a growth rate of 2.8% the previous year, and cases disposed of by 16% to 46,800.
The report predicted that an “increasing number” of family law providers would take a “more holistic approach”, using divorce coaches alongside counselling, therapy, wellbeing and financial advice services
It also expected artificial intelligence (AI) tools and software would spread to more family law practices in areas such as case selection, document review and digital client interaction.
“AI is already being used for example in some court submissions and risk assessments in children cases and its use will grow.
“More guidance and training on AI will be needed for all those working in the judiciary and family law practices.”
With open reporting provisions now extended to all family courts in England and Wales since January, there is a presumption that transparency orders, allowing journalists to report on cases, will be granted.
This was likely to mean more couples turning to ADR to avoid publicity, IRN said, while changes to the Family Procedure Rules last year gave judges the power to halt proceedings to allow time for ADR.
The decision of the Ministry of Justice to extend its mediation voucher scheme, which provides up to £500 per family towards the cost of mediation for child arrangement disputes, was a further boost for ADR.
IRN said provisional figures for the period April to December 2024 showed a strong increase in the number of family mediation starts, up by 40% on the same period in the previous year.
But there could also be more litigation where one of the parties believed confidential information had been made public.
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