Changing Law For The Better

“It is rare to find a training workshop that helps practitioners on both a personal and professional level, but Annmarie delivers just that. She connects with participants on a personal and genuine level, and generously shares her own “lived” experiences. It is easy to come away from training workshops with theoretical ideas only; Annmarie’s training goes much further, and I left with a clear idea as to how I could put such skills and ideas into practice to help both my clients and myself. Her training should form an essential part of a practitioner’s toolkit when helping clients navigate difficult and traumatic periods. I could not recommend Annmarie more highly.”

"I am very pleased to support Annmarie’s entry for the Family Law Awards. Having been a family lawyer herself Annmarie is in the best position to know what family lawyers need in terms of education, training and support. Through her consultancy she is able to provide all these things and, as importantly, ask all the awkward questions and challenge the “that’s the way we have always done it” attitudes. A breath of fresh air and a much needed resource."

"I’ve been aware of Annmarie’s work since she started the Carvalho Consultancy and have been lucky enough to attend events where she has spoken and some of her training.  Annmarie’s approach is always compassionate and innovative.  She has a brilliant way of taking complex and challenging subjects and making them easier to understand and much easier to tackle."

"This is what family lawyers should all aspire to – a model practice for our times."

“Annmarie has been an amazing support these last few months. She not only lets me talk about my worries in a safe and supportive environment, but offers practical solutions to them. Her experience of being a practising solicitor is highly beneficial and enhances her therapeutic advice.”

"I can truly say that the experience of working with Annmarie was life-changing and now I feel I have the emotional tools to face new challenges in the future"

"The best seminar I have ever attended on the subject of mental health issues arising for family lawyers and their clients"

"This is one of the best training courses I have ever done and Annmarie delivered it expertly. The session materials were very detailed and informative and Annmarie’s session was brilliant as it gave us takeaways to apply in practice. I would highly recommend Annmarie for training in this area."

"Annmarie’s training on the subject of vulnerable and suicidal clients was most valuable for the family department at Anthony Gold, both in terms of client care/support, but also reminding us that client trauma is soaked up by fee earners. I have no doubt that this training will be relevant to other departments in my firm and I have already recommended it."

"I have to say that whilst we have had a few wellbeing sessions, particularly in the last couple of years, that’s the first time in my 20 odd years of practice that I have attended one so specifically aimed towards the challenges that we face as a team. I found the session brilliant and those I have spoken to since feel the same."

"We had such a great team session with Annmarie Carvalho this afternoon! She hit the nail on the head in terms of understanding exactly what goes through family lawyers’ minds. So good to hear from everyone in the team and know we all have the same issues and to learn new ways of approaching how we work with clients to reduce stress levels and make sure we are well enough to do a good job and avoid burnout. Highly recommend! Thank you "

"I, for one, feel very reassured to know I have some tools in my belt, though I hope not to use them very often.  We here were really grateful to Annmarie both for the work that she put in beforehand (and we did ask for quite a bit of tailoring, which she handled gracefully!) and for her flawless delivery of the session."

"The training (dealing with difficult clients) was really informative, and we were immediately able to implement some positive changes to our working practices. As to the coaching I have seen a huge improvement in each member of the team's confidence in themselves, being able to recognise some of the traits they have that they need to unlearn and their ability to recognise when something needs to change (whether that is a difficult relationship with a client or not dealing with something how they should, or just coming to the office more (or less). I think being able to do this with lawyers who understand the issues of dealing with complex and high net worth cases has really made it easier for the team to open up."

"Annmarie is someone the junior solicitors respect -  Annmarie was a family law solicitor herself for many years, working in a busy private practice, so she has direct knowledge of the wellbeing issues facing our junior solicitors.  One of my solicitors says, “She is very personable and knowledgeable in her field and a lot of her ideas were interesting and thought provoking”.  Another says, “She provides examples of her own experience and how she dealt with the types of issues we regularly come across (e.g. how to deal with difficult clients or how to communicate more effectively with colleagues) which I found really helpful and will try to carry across to my own work."

"I have spoken with a number of mental health professionals over the years and my discussions with Annmarie have been by far the most helpful. She understands the pressures of a legal career in a way that other counsellors generally don’t, and she gives very helpful and practical advice on navigating life as a lawyer. Annmarie makes the sessions about you from day one and adapts them to focus on the areas that are most important to you. Perhaps most importantly, I tend to finish the sessions feeling happier and more relaxed, and have often been able to have a good laugh with Annmarie even while discussing some fairly grim topics. I would highly recommend her to anyone who is keen to look after their mental health, in good times or bad. "

"I consider myself to be a relatively emotionally aware individual, with strong EQ. Perhaps partly as a result, as well as maybe partly due to my own arrogance and stubbornness, I have always been slightly sceptical about whether therapy would be for me. I had the opportunity to have a few sessions with Annmarie and it has been nothing short of a revelation - the positive impact on my mental health and my ability to formulate thoughts and feelings about topics I previously considered I had well covered has been immense. I have no doubt that this is down in very large part to Annmarie, her style is engaging, insightful, balanced, calm and non-judgemental, mixed with great intellect and humour. I highly recommend working with her."

"Annmarie Carvalho at The Carvalho Consultancy provides a really important service to my family law firm.  I am co-founder of Burgess Mee Family Law and we have 7 junior solicitors for whom Annmarie provides invaluable well-being advice and guidance on a regular basis in workshops."

"Annmarie began facilitating our in-house counselling sessions for lawyers just over a year ago. The feedback has been fantastic and due to demand, we very quickly doubled the number of appointments available per month, which are always fully booked.…. Annmarie can relate to many of the challenges faced by our lawyers due to her background as a city lawyer. This has proved highly beneficial and has contributed greatly towards the success of the service and the relationships she has forged."

“Annmarie has been an amazing support these last few months. She not only lets me talk about my worries in a safe and supportive environment, but offers practical solutions to them. Her experience of being a practising solicitor is highly beneficial and enhances her therapeutic advice.”

“Annmarie has been a huge help to me at a time, post lockdown, when I was struggling with the loss of my mum and feeling overwhelmed by work and the many competing demands on my time and resources. She offered unswerving support, true empathy and compassion together with a knowledge and understanding of the difficulties experienced as a partner in a family team. I’ll never forget our shared joy at a eureka moment you led me to and how that helped me feel empowered and confident in my decisions both professionally and personally thereafter free from once perceived restraints.  I can’t thank you enough for that.”

“Adam is a breath of fresh air, he has helped me work through so much but we always have a good laugh and I look forward to my sessions. TCC is such an innovation and it is so useful to speak to someone who totally understands the stress of being a junior lawyer and can both empathise and help you make things better with the benefit of experience.”

“Adam and TCC is such a great opportunity for me as a junior lawyer to develop coping mechanisms and decompress from the stress of day to day work. It is so useful to speak to someone who understands the difficulties you face as a lawyer. TCC is such a unique concept and I think any lawyers would really benefit from the sessions.”

“Carvalho provide an excellent service. They have covered areas in our discussions that are outside of work, as well as the work itself. This helps to provide an all round service. They have been friendly and made being open much easier.”

“The course has made me evaluate/reflect on my own practice and how I can improve the experience for both my client and I.”

“I found the session very engaging and highly relevant to our practice, particularly private law.”

“Really lovely presentation by Annmarie, professional but lighthearted and entertaining. Thought-provoking rather than prescriptive.”

“It was obvious that counselling skills should be part of the ‘toolkit’ of every barrister engaged in emotionally charged litigation. Indeed, I would recommend it to all of my professional colleagues, especially those dealing with emotionally vulnerable individuals caught up in the criminal justice system.”

“Annmarie ran a training session for senior lawyers on how to support colleagues who may be struggling with mental health issues. The session was well-tailored and well-run. We had a helpful open discussion and Annmarie provided thoughtful and practical advice.”