Executive Frame™ · family law
EF|Law — Family

A performance architecture
for family law practitioners.

Co-facilitated by a clinical psychologist and a senior family barrister. Three half-day modules across a 16-week arc, with supervision between each and a full suite of in-practice tools.

Not a wellbeing programme — a performance architecture
Register interest →Bring it to your chambers →
CENTRE CLARIFY CHOOSE
The central claim

Family law is a
performance environment.

Practitioners perform high-level cognitive, ethical, and relational work while regulating their own nervous systems under adversarial load. Doctrine and procedure don't address this. Wellbeing programmes don't address this. What's required is a performance architecture.

EF|Law — Family is the systematic installation of the regulatory, metacognitive, and motivational infrastructure that determines performance under load.
The Tunnel™ · the degradation model

Named early, exited deliberately.

Without regulatory infrastructure, a predictable degradation sequence unfolds. The clinical question is not whether it happens — it does, to everyone under sustained adversarial load — but whether the practitioner can recognise it early and exit before it drives decisions.

StageMechanismPractice impact
1 · InstabilitySubcortical systems pre-activated before cortical engagement is required.Somatic reactivity, shortened patience, premature closure, misreading client affect.
2 · CompressionExecutive function degrades when the regulatory substrate is activated.Confirmation bias, over-identification, ethical drift, values blindness.
3 · CollapseSelf-determination degrades into compliance or reactivity.Unsustainable advocacy, client over-dependence, career erosion.
S.H.I.F.T.™ · exiting the Tunnel

The reset, built for the acute moment.

A four-step micro-intervention that interrupts the Tunnel at any stage — built for the client in crisis, the adversarial ambush, the distressing disclosure, the personal trigger.

StepActionC³ Phase
StopInterrupt reactive momentum. Break the pattern before it locks.Centre
HoldPhysiological stabilisation. One breath. Ground the system.Centre
FocusStrip narrative back. What is real? What is within control?Clarify
Take ActionOne specific next step. Named. Committed to.Choose
The three modules

Three half-days. Sixteen weeks.

01
CENTRE
Week 0 · co-facilitated

Centre — The Regulation Foundation

Regulation must come first — neurobiologically, not as a preference.
Establishes the architecture and teaches S.H.I.F.T.™. Practitioners map their window of tolerance, identify emotional patterns, and leave with a personal regulatory anchor and pocket tools.
S.H.I.F.T.™ protocolWindow of tolerancePre-engagement worksheet
02
CLARIFY
Week 8 · co-facilitated

Clarify — Cognition Under Load

Observe your own reasoning while it is happening.
Builds metacognitive capacity. The C³ Loop™ is introduced as the steady-state tool; Barkley's executive function research and Beck's cognitive model are applied to the practitioner's own reasoning under load.
The C³ Loop™Cognitive bias field guideEthical clarity tools
03
CHOOSE
Week 16 · co-facilitated

Choose — Agency & Sustainable Practice

From in-the-moment regulation to career-horizon sustainability.
Examines boundary design, client selection, motivation, and identity through Self-Determination Theory, growth mindset, and stress-mindset science. Closes the programme and hands the framework to the practitioner.
Boundary architectureMotivational auditSustainability framework
15
CPD hours
Full programme core; up to 19.5 with post-programme supervision.
16
Week arc
Three half-days, eight weeks apart, with supervision between.
2
Streams
0–7 PQE and 8+ PQE, calibrated to seniority.
Co-facilitation

Clinical psychology and the senior family bar.

Every seminar is led jointly by a clinical psychologist and a senior family barrister. This is a non-negotiable design feature — the clinician carries the framework; the barrister carries the applied specificity of current senior practice.

Clinical lead

Dr Sarah Anticich

Industrial, Organisational & Clinical Psychologist. Developer of the Executive Frame™ and clinical architect of EF|Law — Family.

Legal lead

Richard Smith

Senior barrister, Montrose Chambers, Christchurch, specialising in family law. Co-designer and legal lead, bringing the lived specificity of current practice.

Delivery formats & investment

Five ways to engage.

FormatDetailInvestment (NZD)
Chambers / firm cohortThree half-days, full tool suite, two supervision sessions, e-learning. 6–10 practitioners.$11,450–$15,950 per cohort
Open enrolment · fullStreamed by seniority; tool suite, supervision, e-learning, CPDPR documentation.$1,450 pp · $1,250 pp for 3+
Single moduleOne half-day, full tool suite for that domain. 5 CPD hours.$595 · $550 when booking two
Individual pathwayThree modules one-to-one, three integration coaching sessions, full suite.$3,650
University integrationSupervisor orientation and student tool suite for clinical legal education.Scoping-based

Full NZLS CPDPR alignment and documentation support. Initial scoping conversations are at no cost.

Work with us

Start where you are.

To discuss a chambers cohort, open-enrolment registration, or an individual pathway, register interest or get in touch — initial scoping is at no cost.

Start with an intake →Get in touch →
Human first. Then performance.