Caroline Bowden

Caroline has been a prominent figure in the field of mediation since 2006. The Legal 500 directory hails her as one of the country’s leading mediators, emphasising her standout qualities and highly skilled approach that never fails to please clients (Legal 500 2022/3). 

Caroline places great importance on being a very active facilitator, giving general legal advice and information where needed.  She is a solicitor embedded within the firm’s family department and stays up-to-date with all the latest legal and practice changes.  Caroline’s calm and neutral approach is noted, whilst also being firm in moving the process along, instilling confidence in clients that she will keep the focus on exploring all avenues to help them reach agreements that are workable and lasting. 

Specialising primarily in family law, Caroline concentrates on financial matters and children’s issues. Her mediation fees are transparent, based on meeting times, ensuring clients have a clear estimate of costs from the outset, thereby offering competitive rates. 

Described as robust, yet warm and friendly, Caroline creates a trustworthy forum for clients to work through their issues, consistently achieving high settlement rates. Her expertise isn’t confined to family mediation; as an accredited civil and commercial mediator, she seamlessly integrates facilitation skills into the hybrid and civil context, adapting her approach case by case. 

Caroline’s clientele spans high-net-worth individuals, complex issues such as foreign jurisdictions, inter-generational, same-sex, and surrogacy matters, as well as cases involving mental health conditions, neurodivergence, addictions or allegations of abuse.  

A pioneer of new innovations, she conducted hybrid mediations, combining her family and civil training, long before the recent uptake in this model.  For many years, Caroline has been preparing the first draft of outcome documents which are capable of becoming court orders.  This is particularly valuable in financial cases, seeking legal clarity and finality.  She then instigated a working group between the Law Society and Resolution (the family solicitors’ practice group) to set out best practice for this: the guidance that resulted from this group was endorsed by the Family Mediation Council.   

Beyond her own role as a mediator, Caroline is actively involved in shaping mediation policy and practice. In 2023, she gave evidence on behalf of the Family Mediation Council to the House of Commons Justice Select Committee, contributing to responses on the Government’s proposals for compulsory family mediation.  

Since 2022, Caroline has been a member of the Early Working Group set up by the Ministry of Justice to look at ways to amend court rules and practice to encourage out of court solutions.  She also a director of the Family Mediation Council, which is the governing and strategic body for all regulated family mediation nationwide.  Her interests are also broader than just mediation matters, as she is a member of the Family Law Committee of The Law Society.  Over time she has been actively involved in consultations for changing the law on divorce, financial remedies, co-habitation, domestic abuse and children matters, as well as non-court dispute resolution.   

Caroline’s is a member of the Family Solutions Group, set up by the President of the Family Division, to look at all non-court spaces, not just legal ones, with a special focus on the needs of children in separating families and what support is available.  

Further information: 

• Qualified solicitor since 1992 (LLB 1988) 

• Trained as a mediator in 1997, full accreditation in 2000 

• Resolution accredited specialist in finance and children disputes 

• Accredited for Child Inclusive Mediation 

• Certificate in Counselling with Distinction, Birkbeck University 

• Trained Collaborative Lawyer 

• Former member of The Children Panel  

• Legal aid contractor for 30 years until 2023, passing all audits first time.