Edward Cooke

Practice Areas

Edward Cooke is a specialist family lawyer, an accredited mediator and a collaborative lawyer. He is recognised as a leading practitioner in his field and has been working full-time as a family lawyer for nearly 25 years. Edward founded Edward Cooke Family Law in 2018.

Edward’s work as a family law solicitor encompasses all areas of family law, including divorce, financial issues, children work and cases involving unmarried couples and civil partners.

He has built a reputation as a leading specialist in the area. He not only has wide experience in dealing with the full range of family cases, but also regularly handles complex court cases involving substantial assets, trusts, farms and family businesses.

Edward believes firmly in the benefits of non-court resolution. He is an experienced and accredited family law mediator and collaborative lawyer and is also qualified to meet with children in the mediation process. In appropriate cases, he sensitively feeds back children’s views to their parents. By bringing their voices into the mediation process in an inclusive and professional way, he enables deadlocks to be broken in many high-conflict mediations.

Edward is also trained to conduct hybrid mediations, used very successfully in cases with complex assets or financial arrangements. Hybrid mediation is effective in cases with a barrier to parties negotiating face-to-face. Edward is one of a select group nationwide to be trained in this method and regularly undertakes high-net-worth mediations using this approach.

Regardless of whether he represents clients in court, through the collaborative process or in mediation, he always seeks to find solutions which are constructive, child-focused, and fair.

Edward and his team support clients with :

- Divorce and Separation

- Financial Issues Arising upon Divorce and Separation

- Children

- Modern Family Structures

- Surrogacy, Donor Conception and Fertility Law

- Cohabitation Disputes and Agreements

- Domestic Abuse, Injunctions and Emergency Remedies

- Pre and Post Nuptial Agreements

Career

After obtaining a degree in History at Bristol University, Edward attained his Post Graduate Legal Practice Course at the College of Law in London.

Having started his legal career at London Magic Circle firm Slaughter and May, he decided instead to specialise in family law. After working for 18 years as a family lawyer in West Sussex and Hampshire, he founded Edward Cooke Family Law in 2018.

The firm has since grown to become one of the leading family law firms on the South Coast, based out of offices in Chilgrove, near Chichester and Brighton and offering appointments in their satellite offices in Petersfield and Chichester city centre. The team includes three directors, Edward Cooke, Michelle Lewis and Lauren Guy, alongside a dedicated team of family solicitors, mediators and support staff, all of whom have a wealth of specialist family law experience.

Edward sustains a keen interest in continued professional development and the enhancement of his own approach. Additionally, he dedicates significant time to supporting the continued evolution of family law through association memberships and contributions.

Edward was instrumental in securing ongoing court provision in Chichester further to the 2018 closure of the full-time Chichester County Court. For this valuable work, he won Resolution’s 2018 John Cornwell award, presented annually to one individual in recognition of outstanding work in supporting separating families. He also received a Chichester Civic award for his achievements.

Professional Memberships

Edward was a founder member of the West Sussex branch of Resolution and has sat on its regional committee since it was established in 2002. Edward was a Director and National Committee member at Resolution for 6 years, from 2017 to 2023.

Edward is a member of the Law Society Family Law panel.

Edward is a former President of the Chichester and District Law Society.

Edward is a member of the Three Counties Family Law Group and the Chichester and South Downs Collaborative Pod, groups of collaborative family law professionals.

Publications

Edward has written extensively on the subject of family law in publications including Resolution’s The Review, Financial Remedies Journal, The Law Society Gazette and The Solicitors Journal.

Edward is regularly approached for comment and interview across press and media, including The Times, The Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, New Statesman, The Sun, Mail Online, This Is Money, BBC Radio Sussex, BBC South Today, Sussex World, Chichester Observer, The Argus, Family Lore and New Law Journal.

Personal

Edward grew up in Chichester. He enjoys all types of music, walking his golden retriever, running and spending time with his family.

Edward is a highly accomplished musician. He plays the church organ, piano and sings. His most entertaining experience as a musician was as a backing singer to Barry Manilow when he was a student.