Elissa DaCosta-Waldman

Elissa DaCosta-Waldman is a barrister, mediator, collaborative lawyer and Family Law Arbitrator. Called to the Bar in 1990, having worked in legal practice since 1973, she takes a creative, solutions-focused approach to financial matters on relationship breakdown and prides herself on an inclusive practice, approachable and sensitive to alternative family structures.

Alongside her matrimonial finance practice, she is an expert in cohabitation claims for both heterosexual and same-sex partners, drafting cohabitation agreements at the outset of a relationship and resolving matters by agreement at its end. She also acts in inheritance claims, for example where a client expected but did not receive a legacy, or where a surviving spouse did not receive sufficient provision from an estate.

Where litigation is the right route, Elissa is an assertive and effective advocate, National Institute of Trial Advocacy trained. However, she is a strong proponent of dispute resolution that avoids court: a Resolution-trained mediator and a principled negotiator following the Harvard model, she became a collaborative lawyer in 2005, and in 2012 qualified as a Family Law Arbitrator and a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Through the Institute of Family Law Arbitrators (IFLA) scheme she can resolve financial disputes more quickly, flexibly and confidentially than court, with an outcome that is final and enforceable.

Professional & academic

• Called to the Bar in 1990; in legal practice since 1973
• Barrister, mediator, collaborative lawyer (2005) and Family Law Arbitrator (2012)
• Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
• Published legal author who writes regularly for journals including Family Law and Resolution Review, and lectures solicitors and barristers on family law