Sarah Manning

Partner and Head of Mediation

Sarah specialises in complex children and financial matters from mid to high-net-worth clients in both her capacity as a mediator and solicitor.

As a practicing solicitor/mediator, Sarah’s extensive experience in Non-Court Dispute Resolution (NCDR) processes enhances her mediation and legal offering to support high net-worth, complex and high conflict cases staying out of the Court arena.

She prides herself in ensuring that her clients are aware in their first meeting of the wide range of NCDR options available. This allows them to make an informed decision on which path they wish to take in resolving their dispute and for Sarah to support them.

Sarah does not use inflammatory language and specialises in a collaborative way of working with other legal professionals to make the experience for separating families a more pleasant experience than the court process offers without creating further hostility.

Sarah has built up a strong network of other professionals such as divorce coaches, IFAs, forensic accountants, Single Joint Expert’s etc to assist with negotiations early on. This maximises the likelihood of avoiding the Court process.

Sarah is a trained hybrid mediator which allows her to adapt her practise to assist in domestic abuse and/or high conflict cases in both financial and children matters which historically would not have been suitable for mediation. She is also able to bring in neutrals to the process to assist separating couples reach a settlement through mediation.

Sarah is also a trained child inclusive mediator, which gives children a voice and an opportunity to share their worries and concerns whilst their parents are in mediation. This can assist in further avoiding court proceedings. Through her experience as a child inclusive mediator, Sarah has developed essential skills when dealing with complex children matters.

In Sarah’s capacity as a solicitor, she has extensive experience dealing with private and complex children matters that include Finding of Fact hearings and historic parental alienation. She prides herself on dealing with matters as amicably as possible whilst ensuring that any children’s needs are at the forefront of any discussions and arrangements reached. When Court is necessary Sarah will do everything to keep matters constructive and non-confrontational whilst achieving the best possible outcome for her client. From Sarah’s experience as a mediator, she is able to put forward suggestions to improve communication which is commonly explored in mediation.

Sarah is a specialist in domestic abuse and has presented to agencies assisting survivors of domestic abuse talking about NCDR processes and how survivors of domestic abuse can safely engage in NCDR rather than solely relying on the Court processes. Sarah is also able to identify domestic abuse early on and seek assistance from her network of domestic abuse agencies to offer support to clients.

Sarah is the Chair of the Family Mediation Council’s (FMC) committee for Family Mediation Week (“FMW”). The purpose of this is to spread awareness amongst family lawyers and separating couples about the benefits of mediation.

Sarah was named as a Next Generation Partner in Legal 500 2024 and Rising Star in 2023 and described as a “key practitioner” and “trained mediator, which supports the team’s ‘real emphasis on alternatives’ to court.”

Sarah has also been named as the ‘Family Mediator of the Year’ at the National Mediation Awards 2024.