Friday, 27 February 2026
Learning Objectives:
- Develop practical strategies for conducting effective first client meetings in family law matters
- Understand how to manage expectations, explain legal principles clearly and establish appropriate professional boundaries from the outset
Chair
Helen Tyree, Director, McWilliam Tyree
Description
Attend and earn 0.5 CPD hour
* This interactive online recording includes questions and quizzes requiring critical thinking about the topics, so you have no annual limits to the number of points/hours you can claim with this format of learning. Please verify with your CPD rules
Preparing Effectively for the First Client Meeting
- Establishing rapport and managing client expectations
- Discussing post-separation claims and clarifying the law
- Explaining the difference between discretionary awards and legal entitlements
- Gathering key information and identifying next steps
- Setting clear boundaries, costs, and communication frameworks
Presented by Alice Strang, Barrister, Brintyn Smith Barrister
Presenters
Helen Tyree, Director, McWilliam TyreeHelen is a Director of McWilliam Tyree Lawyers, having been an Associate and then Senior Associate at McWilliam Rennie (predecessor of McWilliam Tyree) since 2014. Helen has practiced all areas of family law since 2003. As well as acting for clients in all areas of family law, Helen has undertaken regular appointments as lawyer for child and as lawyer for subject persons under the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act since 2008. Helen is also a contributing author for the legal publication “Brookers Family Law on Family Property”, writing about relationship property agreements (separation agreements, contracting-out agreements, and setting aside those agreements). She also contributed significantly to McWilliam Rennie’s submissions to the Law Commission in relation to their review of relationship property and then succession law. She has presented seminars for Legalwise on a range of relationship property matters, relationship property law developments and on the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act.
Alice Strang, Barrister, Brintyn Smith Barrister
Aly is a specialist family law barrister and legal aid provider. She handles family law legal matters with a special interest in advocacy, procedural and interlocutory matters. Aly routinely appears in the Family Court in respect to parenting and guardianship disputes, Family Violence, Oranga Tamariki and Relationship Property matters. While passionate about litigation, Aly also places significant emphasis on resolving disputes amicably through mediation and collaborative approaches.
