Suzanne is widely known for her expertise in all aspects of family work, in particular the resolution of complex financial issues for high net worth individuals. Suzanne's cases often have an international element and she has considerable experience in dealing with prenuptial agreements and cohabitation issues. As a member of the Children Panel, Suzanne has dealt with numerous cases involving complicated Children Act issues as well as both child abduction and adoption. She is an accredited Resolution mediator and has a thriving mediation practice having recently undertaken a number of referrals under the Court of Appeal mediation scheme. In addition, Suzanne is a qualified collaborative lawyer and trains collaborative law for Resolution.

Suzanne was described in Chambers 2010 as "deal(ing) with big money cases in an intelligent and business-like manner and is much loved by her clients".Suzanne was recognised in the Legal 500 2009 as "very knowledgeable team-driven and proactive in achieving results without aggravating often difficult matrimonial issues". Suzanne was recommended in Spears Wealth Management 2010 and included in the Citywealth 2010 leading lawyers list. Suzanne has acted for well-known personalities including footballers, actors and well known business people. In addition, Suzanne is able to use her skill set in litigation as well as assisting clients via alternative dispute resolution whether that be mediation or collaborative law.

Publications and speaking engagements

• Suzanne is often quoted in national newspapers on family law topics of the day and is a renowned trainer
• Spearheaded Resolution's training of collaborative counsel and will soon commence training arbitration for family lawyers
• Lectured at the Hong Kong Family Law Association
• Guest speaker at the Ville D'Estate for Barclays Wealth
• Contributed to the Alternative Dispute Resolution handbook published by the Law Society
• Contributed to Jordans publication on prenuptial agreements

Memberships

• Resolution (formerly the Solicitors Family Law Association)
• Fellow of IAML
• IACP

Dr Jarratt is a highly experienced international commercial mediator, international arbitrator, expert determiner, adjudicator and expert witness in the UK and internationally including mediating by telephone and virtually and arbitrating virtually.

He has the highest accreditations, vast experience and has written published work, given numerous talks and led workshops on dispute resolution. He is a Chartered Engineer, a Chartered Manager, a Fellow of five professional institutions and a Member of two others. He has written many papers and reviews on mediation for professional journals examples of which can be found at https://doi.org/10.1680/mpal.14.00016 and https://doi.org/10.1680/jmapl.19.00014.

Dr Jarratt is a Professional Reviewer, Professional Assessor, Peer Interviewer, Tutor, Examiner and Moderator for four professional institutions.

He is on the major UK mediation panels and many internationally. He is a mediator on The Barrister Group in the UK. He has mediated over 1000 UK and international disputes since 1993 with a success rate of 93%. He is a Certified Mediator and an Accredited Mentor for the International Mediation Institute.

Dr Jarratt has mediated and arbitrated civil and structural engineering, architectural, quantum, MEP and other construction disputes including Final Accounts, interim monthly applications for payment, variations, retention money, contra charges and delay and disruption. His experience includes mediating disputes on tall towers in the UAE. He has managed entrenched parties and legal and other representatives for example on a £4 million claim on a city centre shopping complex and an £8.5 million dispute on infrastructure works between an international joint venture and the Employer. Other mediated disputes include property, commercial, intellectual property, wine production, agriculture, health, maritime, insurance, retail, finance, personal injury, employment, inheritance, estate management, misrepresentation, professional negligence, transport, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, telecommunications, IT and renewable energy.

Dr Jarratt’s arbitration appointments include sole arbitrator, tribunal member and presiding arbitrator. Arbitral seats include London and Dubai under their applicable governing laws. He has also advised project financiers, Clients, Employers, consultants, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and other stakeholders under the NEC forms of contract, FIDIC’s Red, Silver and Yellow books and various JCT and other types of contract.

Using his links with universities, he regularly invites LLM students and lecturers to join his mediations and arbitration hearings as observers and supports them throughout the process. He has written papers on mediation. He is a member of the Working Group of the European Union Intellectual Property Office and was a past member of the Editorial Advisory Panel of Management, Procurement & Law journal and the CMI, eastern board and past chairman of the Ciarb, East Anglia branch. He has also refereed and reviewed books on arbitration and FIDIC and other forms of contract.

He regularly chairs and speaks at professional events and is a past speaker for the IStructE and the ICE and a regular one for the Ciarb. He has run the mediation workshops at a past ICE's flagship Annual ADR Day. He was also a speaker on mediation in 1994 at the IStructE during their 75th anniversary alongside its President and two Past Presidents.

Training and qualification as a family law arbitrator is available only to those who satisfy the conditions established by IFLA. Eligibility is considered without discrimination.

1.1. An applicant for the children scheme must be either:

 1.2 A retired practitioner who would have met the eligibility requirements at the time of their retirement, provided he or she applies to train within 12months from the date of retirement.

1.3 A retired Judge of the Court of Appeal or Supreme Court Justice who before or during his or her appointment as such sat as a High Court Judge in the Family Division, provided he or she applies to train within 12 months from the date of retirement.

1.4 A retired judge who was authorised to sit in the Family Court at the date of his or her retirement and who sat in the Family Court for at least 100 days in each of the two years preceding retirement of which at least 40% were in the discipline in which he or she seeks to qualify, provided he or she applies to train within 12 months from the date of retirement.

2. Support the Resolution Code of Practice

An applicant who is unable to satisfy the criteria set out at 1.1 or 1.3 above due to parental leave, illness or other extenuating circumstances may seek an exemption at the IFLA’s discretion.

Applicants other than retired judges must provide the name of two referees who are either:

In order to be considered for the course, please complete the application form and send it and your full CV to IFLA_Children@ciarb.org

Should you be successful in your application, you will be contacted regarding registration and payment.

Please note that CV’s are processed in batches and as such, the review process can take upwards of 4 weeks. You will be contacted should you be successful in your application.

To view the full course information sheet, please click here.

The Family Law Children Arbitration Scheme (‘the Children Scheme’) is a scheme under which disputes concerning the exercise of parental responsibility and other private law issues about the welfare of children in England and Wales may be resolved by arbitration.

In order to become an arbitrator under this Scheme, it is necessary that Scheme members qualify and maintain membership of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and concurrently are maintained as members of the relevant panel of arbitrators which shall be managed by Resolution on behalf of the Institute of Family Law Arbitrators Limited (“IFLA”).

The Scheme is administered by Resolution on behalf of IFLA, a company limited by guarantee whose members are the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (“Ciarb”), Resolution and the Family Law Bar Association (“FLBA”).

IFLA is responsible for:

• the rules governing the family law arbitration schemes
• eligibility, training, and qualification criteria
• application procedures
• criteria for remaining on the panels
• denying, suspending, or revoking membership of the panels
• development of the schemes
• public perceptions and requirements of the Schemes
• pursuing legislative reform as and when appropriate

Some of the primary advantages of family arbitration are:

• Choice: parties can select the decision maker.
• Efficiency: choosing arbitration can save court resources.
• Flexibility: arbitration may be used for discrete issues within a case.
• Continuity: with direct, continuous involvement of the decision maker.
• Privacy: arbitration is a confidential process.
• Speed: arbitration can be faster than court-based processes.

The training course is delivered with a combination of:

• Private study
  • Private study includes reading course materials before the course starts on 24 February 2025.

• Tutorials
  • Tutorials will take place virtually on Ciarb's online learning platform, LearnADR, on 24, 25, 26 and 27 February 2025.

The assessment will be provided electronically on Ciarb's online learning platform, LearnADR. 

You will be given a case study that has been conducted under the current IFLA Scheme Rules. You will be required to deal with the papers as if you were the arbitrator in the case. This will involve considering them, deciding any issues which may appear and producing a reasoned determination in respect of those issues.

LearnADR is Ciarb's online learning platform.

Once you have purchased the course, you can access it by going to your dashboard and click on 'My Courses'. There you will find a red button that says, 'LearnADR'.

Training and qualification as a family law arbitrator is available only to those who satisfy the conditions established by IFLA. Eligibility is considered without discrimination.

1.1. An applicant for the children scheme must be either:

 1.2 A retired practitioner who would have met the eligibility requirements at the time of their retirement, provided he or she applies to train within 12months from the date of retirement.

1.3 A retired Judge of the Court of Appeal or Supreme Court Justice who before or during his or her appointment as such sat as a High Court Judge in the Family Division, provided he or she applies to train within 12 months from the date of retirement.

1.4 A retired judge who was authorised to sit in the Family Court at the date of his or her retirement and who sat in the Family Court for at least 100 days in each of the two years preceding retirement of which at least 40% were in the discipline in which he or she seeks to qualify, provided he or she applies to train within 12 months from the date of retirement.

2. Support the Resolution Code of Practice

An applicant who is unable to satisfy the criteria set out at 1.1 or 1.3 above due to parental leave, illness or other extenuating circumstances may seek an exemption at the IFLA’s discretion.

Applicants other than retired judges must provide the name of two referees who are either:

In order to be considered for the course, please complete the application form and send it and your full CV to IFLA_Children@ciarb.org

Should you be successful in your application, you will be contacted regarding registration and payment.

Please note that CV’s are processed in batches and as such, the review process can take upwards of 4 weeks. You will be contacted should you be successful in your application.

3. Only one referee may be from the same firm or chambers as the applicant. Referees will be asked to certify that the applicant meets the following competencies:

On successful completion of the course and the corresponding assessment, candidates will:

• Be eligible to apply for Membership and request that their professional profile be added to the IFLA website.

Please note that candidates are only eligible to apply for Membership for a maximum of two years after having successfully completed the course and assessment.