“The first Monday in January is when lawyers and law firms receive a surge of new enquiries from couples about divorce,” Relate stated, adding that it expected “enquiries to go through the roof”. In January 2017, Relate received a 24 per cent increase in calls to their helpline in comparison to the average month. Furthermore, data analysed by divorce support service Amicable in 2018 found that 40,500 people were predicted to search “divorce” online that January. Amanda McAlister, managing partner of Manchester-based McAlister Family Law, explained that while people may assume Divorce Day is a publicity stunt devised by lawyers, “it is actually genuine”.