Christine Plews
Consultant
Contact details
Christine Plews provides a calming influence, gently steering her cases to a successful conclusion.
Christine is a vastly experienced family lawyer with over 30 years’ experience in this area. She is highly ranked and recommended in legal directories. Christine was a partner at Blake Morgan LLP until 2019 when she became a Consultant specialising in mediation. She is an Accredited Mediator, certified Child Inclusive Mediator, trained collaborative lawyer and holds counselling qualifications from Oxford University.
Main areas of practice
Delivered via the mediation process, Christine handles all levels of complexities in financial matters following a divorce or separation including where there are significant Trust or business assets. She also mediates in children cases, including where there is high conflict and emotion or little. Blake Morgan LLP participate in the Family Mediation Voucher Scheme, and as an accredited mediator this is up to £500.
She has been an Family Mediation Council (FMC) Accredited mediator for five years, a highly sought after qualification, which requires in-depth study and demonstration of experience as a mediator. In addition she is a Law Society Accredited Mediator which qualifies her to hold mediation information and assessment meetings (MIAMs) and sign court forms where appropriate. She is qualified to see children in mediation which enables the children to have a separate voice, which is shown to be beneficial to their well-being. Christine holds a post graduate certificate in psychodynamic counselling from Oxford University, which enables her to help clients develop insight into their mode of relating to their partner. She is a qualified Solicitor and holds a practising certificate.
Clients
Christine mediates for a wide range of clients including business owners and high profile individuals. Whilst many of her mediations involve substantial assets, including Trust assets or have an international element, they equally do not, but Christine finds clients appreciate the experience she brings to bear on all her mediations. Her mediation clients might be seeking a divorce, or a separation or a Pre or Post Nuptial Agreement. She might be their first port of call or their last before a contested court hearing. Regardless of the stage you are at, mediation is flexible and bespoke and can be tailored to suit the situation. It does not have to be for amicable relationships, as is sometimes presumed.
Family mediation appointments
Appointments are designed to fit the lifestyle and preference of the clients. Clients can be seen face to face at one of our professional and discreet offices in convenient locations across the south of England and Wales – in London, Southampton, Oxford and Reading. Equally clients like to have their mediation appointments on a virtual basis and this can be accommodated via MS Teams. This enables mediations to take place for clients based all around the UK and abroad. Shuttle mediations where clients do not want to see each other can be accommodated on either basis. Often a combination of face to face meetings and virtual meetings is preferred. Clear information about process and costs is provided at the outset. Click here to contact me.
Expertise
- Family Mediation
- Arrangements for Children, Parents and Grandparents
- Divorce and Separation
- Pre-Nuptial and Post-Nuptial Agreements
Career
Christine joined the firm in 1990. She has held numerous management positions within the firm and led the award winning family team for 25 years. It is ranked as one of the top 50 family teams in England and Wales and is ranked highly in the legal directories. She is noted as a Senior Statesperson in the Family Law field. In the last 10 years she has built a mediation practice within the family team and achieved the highly sought after accreditation in 2016 with the Family Mediation Council. She has added the Law Society’s Mediation Panel to her portfolio of accreditations and become a Child Inclusive Mediator. She is trained in psychodynamic counselling. She is a diversity champion and is on the ED&I panel for the Family Mediators Association.
Contact details
Accreditations


Memberships
- International Academy of Collaborative Lawyers
- Lawyers Against Poverty
- Resolution
- Family Mediators Association (FMA) member and on their Diversity Committee
Significant Experience
- Mediation: As an accredited Resolution mediator, Christine has one of the largest lawyer mediator practices in the area. She works closely with IFAs and family consultants. She holds a post graduate counselling qualification. A trained collaborative lawyer since 2005, she helped launch collaborative law in the Oxford area and remains involved in the development of this area of dispute resolution.
- Nuptial Agreements: In this developing area, Christine has advised many couples on nuptial agreements, before or after their marriage or Civil Partnership. Many have an international element and involve significant assets.
- Owner managed businesses: She also specialises in the division of business assets following divorce or separation of a family member and dealing with money and property issues arising out of relationship breakdown, whether the couple have been married or not.
- International: Christine has a developing reputation for dealing with family disputes where there is an international element, particularly with regard to Ireland, France, Germany and Belgium where she has links with other lawyers. Her expertise lies in English law but she is also well informed about issues relating to children or assets in other jurisdictions.
Additional Expertise
Christine has a Postgraduate Certificate (PG Cert) in Psychodynamic Counselling, is an Accredited Mediator and on the Law Society Mediation panel. She is also trained in Child Inclusive Mediation and has undertaken a course in Couples and Family Systemic Counselling.
Christine has experience in cases involving couples who are unmarried but have business or property assets together. She has a particular expertise in Prenuptial Agreements.
Quotes
Insights by Christine
articles
In a recent case in the Court of Appeal (K v K [2022] CA Civ 468) the importance of parties attending a mediation information and assessment meeting (MIAM) was stressed....
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Since the Family Mediation Voucher Scheme's launch in March 2021, the Mediators at Blake Morgan have been offering the scheme to clients who are discussing matters relating to their children...
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In the month that we have enjoyed the BBC drama about the Duke and Duchess of Argyll's divorce in the 1960s, we have Family Mediation Week which promotes Family Dispute...
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