Asking for relief – NearlyLegal
‘This is a housing case, but the procedural issue in this decision is only tangentially related to that. Nonetheless, it is a matter worth noting.’
NearlyLegal, 10th January 2015
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
Category: legal representation
Parents’ legal aid wait to fight enforced adoption of son inhumane, says judge – The Guardian
‘A couple left in “agony” to fight against the enforced adoption of their three-year-old son could be forgiven for thinking they are trapped in a system which is “neither compassionate nor even humane,” the most senior family court judge in England and Wales has said.’
The Guardian, 7th January 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
The Separate Representation of Children in Child Abduction Proceedings – Family Law Week
‘Esther Lieu, barrister of 3PB Chambers, explores how the role of children has developed Hague Convention child abduction proceedings.’
Family Law Week, 6th January 2015
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
How to make family hearings fair – UK Human Rights Blog
‘This case raises a very stark problem. A father wants to see his children aged 5 and 4. The mother has an elder daughter, Y, aged 17. Y told her teacher that the father sexually abused her. The truth or otherwise of this allegation is relevant to whether there should be contact between father and his children.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 5th January 2015
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
Judge orders MoJ to pay for LiP’s lawyer – Law Society’s Gazette
‘The High Court has ordered the government to pay for a litigant in person to be represented at a hearing despite his lack of eligibility for legal aid.’
Full story
Law Society’s Gazette, 5th January 2015
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
Court of Appeal: litigants in person may get help with relief from sanctions, but only “at the margins” – Litigation Futures
‘The fact that an individual or a company is a litigant in person is not a reason for the “disapplication” of court orders, rules and directions, appeal judges have ruled.’
Litigation Futures, 5th January 2015
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
Recovering Inquest Costs in Civil Proceedings – Zenith PI Blog
The Senior Court Cost Office has handed down a decision in the above case offering additional guidance as to when and what costs of attending an inquest can be recovered in subsequent civil proceedings.
Zenith PI Blog, 17th December 2014
Source: www.zenithpi.wordpress.com
Extensions of Time to File Notices of Appeal and Relief from Sanctions: R (on the application of DINJAN HYSAJ) v Secretary of State for The Home Department: Fathollahipour v Aliabadibenisi: May v Robsinson – Zenith PI Blog
‘CPR r.3.9 rears its growling head again…but a more robust approach, nevertheless, should not be taken as encouragement to refuse reasonable extensions of time or to seek tactical advantage in every minor default.’
Zenith PI Blog, 17th December 2014
Source: www.zenithpi.wordpress.com
Father treated ‘like Kafka character’ by Family Court – top judge – Daily Telegraph
‘A father who was banned from his own street, cut off from his children for five months, with no opportunity to defend himself, and then arrested for text messaging his son, was treated like a character from a Kafka novel, a senior judge has admitted.’
Daily Telegraph, 15th December 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Legal aid contracts for on-call criminal solicitors to be slashed by two-thirds – The Guardian
‘On-call, duty contracts for criminal solicitors to attend police stations and courts will be slashed from 1,600 to 527 in England and Wales, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed.’
The Guardian, 27th November 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Parents face funding test to stop their children going into care – The Bar Council
‘Parents facing the prospect of having their children taken away from them should have legal aid to fight their case, the Bar Council has said.’
The Bar Council, 17th November 2014
Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk
Legal aid cuts ‘not thought through early enough’ – BBC News
‘The government did not “think through” its legal aid cuts early enough and “does not know” whether people in need of aid are getting it, a report says. The National Audit Office said £300m a year would eventually be saved but other impacts of changes were unknown.’
BBC News, 20th November 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
In re D (A Child) – WLR Daily
In re D (A Child) [2014] EWFC 39 ; [2014] WLR (D) 471
‘It was the responsibility—indeed, the duty—of the judges in the Family Court and the Family Division to ensure that proceedings before them were conducted justly and in a manner compliant with the requirements of articles 6 and 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Where legal aid was unavailable in care proceedings there were, in theory, three other possible sources of public funding: (i) the local authority, as the public authority bringing the proceedings, (ii) the legal aid fund, on the basis that the child’s own interests required an end to the delay and a process which was just and Convention-compliant, or (iii) Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service, on the basis that the court was a public authority required to act in a Convention-compliant manner.’
WLR Daily, 31st October 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Parents face funding test to stop their children going into care – The Bar Council
‘Parents facing the prospect of having their children taken away from them should have legal aid to fight their case, the Bar Council has said.’
The Bar Council, 17th November 2014
Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk
Legal Services Payment Orders and Maintenance Pending Suit – No. 5 Chambers
‘Anne Smallwood, family law barrister at No5 Chambers, recently gave a talk titled ‘Section 22 Z A – Getting Paid And M.P.S’ at the Family Money Talks Seminar 2014.’
No. 5 Chambers, 16th October 2014
Source: www.no5.com
‘Wholly antiquated’: lord chief justice on court technology – LegalVoice
‘Our “antiquated” courts faced “severe crisis” without significant investment, the lord chief justice said yesterday. Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd offered journalists a judicial perspective on the financial pressures being imposed upon the courts at his annual press conference.’
LegalVoice, 13th November 2014
Source: www.legalvoice.org.uk
Judge attacks legal aid cuts as couple fight to keep their son – The Independent
‘One of Britain’s most senior judges has launched a withering attack on cuts to legal aid after a couple with learning disabilities was not provided with a lawyer to fight the forced adoption of their two-year-old son.’
The Independent, 31st October 2014
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Legal aid cuts denied mother a fair hearing, says senior judge – The Guardian
‘A senior family court judge has condemned the injustice of the newly pared-back legal aid system after an illiterate mother of four, with poor sight and hearing, was forced to represent herself in a court hearing over the custody of her children.’
The Guardian, 2nd November 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
