JAMES Muir-Little, partner with Canterbury solicitors Furley Page is one of the first lawyers in the country to become an Advanced Member of the Law Society's Family Law Panel. James, whose chosen specialist subjects were high value settlements and children, was one of only 213 solicitors from England and Wales to pass this tough new examination.

The Law Society has established this new level of membership to ensure that solicitors claiming expertise in Family Law are keeping their skills up to speed. James says the law is changing and evolving at a rapid rate and each area of the law is becoming more and more specialised and complicated.

Senior partner Peter Hawkes said: "We are very proud of James's achievement which reinforces our position as a firm which can offer specialist skills in different aspects of the law. A particular expertise in financial settlements and in arrangements for children meets the needs of those of our clients who wish to separate."