Ursula Rice is a Director of Family First Solicitors, a solicitor and solicitor advocate who has practised family law since 2003.
From the start, Ursula’s approach to family work has been shaped by one core belief: that family legal work cannot be properly understood without understanding the pervasive effects of domestic abuse. It’s a lens that runs through everything at Family First, whether a case involves children, finances, or both, and it’s one that a lot of other lawyers have historically resisted. Ursula believes that resistance has, over the years, stopped many firms serving both perpetrators and survivors as well as they could, and that the family justice system itself is still catching up.
Since the start of 2026, Ursula has stepped back from day-to-day casework to focus on running and growing the firm. Her job now is to set Family First on a clear path forward, one that keeps the firm’s values intact as it grows. That starts with who joins the team: Ursula is closely involved in hiring lawyers who want to practise the way Family First has always practised, with technical skill matched by real connection to clients. She’s clear that without that connection, a lawyer will never properly understand what matters to a client, or how their resilience and decision-making can be supported or undermined by the quality of the legal advice they receive.
Day to day, this means Ursula mentors members of the team, consults on the firm’s more difficult and sensitive files, and steps into advocacy work herself where it’s genuinely needed. She stays involved enough in the caseload to keep a close eye on standards, while making sure the firm’s operations, people, marketing and financial stability are all built to last, not just for this decade, but for decades to come.
A significant part of Ursula’s focus is making sure high-quality family law stays affordable. She oversees how the firm uses technology and smarter ways of delivering its service, so clients get properly experienced legal advice without a large retainer attached.
Affordability without sacrificing quality is, in her view, key to how family law should be delivered.
Ursula hasn’t stepped away from the wider profession either. She continues to lecture on family law and stays involved in outside projects connected to the field, keeping Family First’s thinking connected to what’s happening across family law more broadly.
