Tag Archives: legal aid

Book Review: Legal Aid Handbook

Julia Belyavin

This review is a guest post written by  Julia Belyavin, barrister at St John’s Chambers, Bristol.

 

Legal Aid Handbook 2011/12, Ed Vicky Lang & Simon Pugh (Legal Action Group)

LAG Handbook

I’ll be honest, when I was reminded that I’d said I’d review the Legal Aid Handbook 2011/12, my heart sank.  It was definitely a ‘what was I thinking?’ moment.  And it is fair to say that the subject matter is, by its very nature, fairly dry and technical.  However, this guide compresses the need-to-know basics (plus a brief gallop through where we are now and quite where reforms might take us) into fewer than 400 pages.  Compared to the 3 volume LSC Manual, that alone makes it a godsend.  The language is clear, informative and as jargon free as it is realistic to expect in the circumstances.  Certainly from the perspective of a family barrister the information was accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief (if you’ll excuse the lawyer’s pun) and it was also very helpful to get a perspective on the duties (and workload) of solicitors.  Of course, given its length it is not and cannot be comprehensive but salient points are covered and there are useful references to the relevant parts of the Manual/LSC website (the latter particularly helpful, as the search engine rarely comes up trumps in my experience).  However, it gives advice about all stages of client representation, from assessing eligibility, representation (if required) and the small matter of receiving payment.  All in, this is a great starting point for any queries about legal aid, and a useful addition to the library.

The Legal Aid Handbook can be purchased from the LAG online bookshop here.

Media Access & Reporting

Thanks to Adam Wagner at UKHR Blog for alerting me to today’s* publication of “A joint publication of The President of the Family Division, the Judicial College and the Society of Editors” entitled “Media Access & Reporting”, which comes just as I was about to put finger to keyboard and begin to type a blog post containing a proposal in respect of that very topic…Of which more momentarily…

Apparently the document arises from “a group of lawyers and journalists, including representatives from both the print and broadcast media, [who] got together to talk to each other”. Whatever that means this is not, I think, a piece of work that the family bar were particularly aware was underway.

Regardless of that, it’s a pleasant surprise, because this is a really useful document for lawyer practitioners and for judges, albeit probably a bit inaccessible for non-legal interested minds. It is a job and a half gathering together all the source material whenever a reporting issue comes up, and this is a really comprehensive analysis of what rules apply in what cases, including in the Court of Protection. It is far more comprehensive and accurate in its points of detail than my previous blog posts and I will use it as a reference tool when such issues arise in my cases. It is also worth noting that there are some interesting, albeit rather esoteric, questions raised about a number of potential points of law, which do rather invite the attention of mischievous lawyers with too much time on their hands.

You can read the guidance on the Judiciary website here.

So, to the main point:

There is much concern at the LASPO proposals on legal aid. There are many individuals and organisations doing their best to bring to the attention of the public and parliament the reality of what these cuts will mean for ordinary people. Sound off for Justice produced an excellent video campaign featuring a hypothetical private law family dispute (a father seeking contact), but otherwise there is little concrete information out there to counter suggestions that public funds are being frittered away on legal aid for undeserving or trivial cases. Individuals involved in private law family cases are likely to be particularly hard hit by the proposed cuts, and whilst those involved in the field of family law are able to articulate the myriad reasons why the cuts would be catastrophic for access to justice somehow the message is not getting across as effectively in family law. I am concerned that family law will end up bearing the brunt, where concessions are made in other areas, because I think it is in many ways the easiest target. I have been pondering whether this difficulty is in large part because the impact of legal aid on people’s lives is not made real in family cases in the way that it is in other types of work. Unlike housing or PI, where vulnerable people who have been helped by legal aid are able to tell their story, there are no real case studies of family cases – because they cannot be reported. Continue Reading…

Doing Violence to Legal Aid

I’ve noticed another teensy glitch in the grand plans to save money through what has now become fondly known as “the LASPO car crash“. And it’s this:

Respondents to non-molestation orders (harassment / domestic violence injunctions) rarely qualify for legal aid. The rationale is that such use of public funds is not justifiable where they can simply attend court as a litigant in person and offer an undertaking (a solemn promise to the court not to behave in a particular way, which is punishable by imprisonment and can stand in the stead of an non-molestation order).

The Legal Services Commission Decision Making Guidance says in respect of Respondents:

11. Legal Representation to defend domestic violence injunction proceedings will also be considered under section 11.10 of the Code. However, prospects of success and cost benefit criteria are unlikelyto be satisfied by a respondent to non molestation proceedings only, unless there are very serious allegations which are denied wholly or substantially. An exception is where there is any question of inability to defend for example because of mental incapacity or age, in which case a grant is likely to be justified. When considering cost benefit, the impact on the client of the order sought will always be taken into account, including any impact on contact or other related family proceedings. However in all cases the client will still need to demonstrate at least borderline prospects of wholly or substantially rebutting the allegations made.

12. In cases where the allegations are less serious or are admitted to a significant extent the main issue may well be whether the respondent should give an undertaking to the court and what form that undertaking should take. Legal Representation is unlikely to be granted in such cases but see paragraph 20.10 regarding the use of Legal Help (which can escape the application of a standard fee).

As to which I observe that in my experience paragraph 12 appears in practice to operate to cover almost all cases, not just those involving less serious or admitted allegations. It should be said that in cases where an occupation order is sought and a Respondent is liable to lose his home funding for representation is more often granted.  Continue Reading…