Well Street
READ THIS. For anyone wanting to get a realistic idea of what happens in the family court, particularly the FPC (Magistrates) and care proceedings this article is a great starting place. It also gives a better flavour of the work of the FDAC (Family Drug & Alcohol Court) Pilot which I posted about recently. . [...]
blustery days
Since my last post regarding the proposed cuts in family legal aid and the press coverage of it, it appears that matters have moved on. The CEO of the LSC has acknowledged that the figure of £140,000 quoted in the press (and arising from LSC private press briefings) as representing average earnings of family legal aid barristers [...]
fundamentally wrong
Last night’s tv involved (apart from the footy) a Louie Theroux style documentary about a fundamentalist christian group who, amongst other things were behind the unsuccessful McClintock tribunal case (magistrate refusing to place children in the care system with same sex couples – see previous post). . More upsetting than the crackers views espoused by this group, and [...]
A storm is a comin'
Uh – oh…perhaps I’d better stay on maternity leave. There may be no family bar to come back to if what I am reading in the press is anything to go by. According to private briefings given by the LSC to the press this week we are in for a 15% cut of our fees. [...]
New Domestic Violence Practice Direction Published
The President’s new PD on DV was circulated last week. Whilst I don’t think it does anything other than codify existing best practice (admittedly often departed from by some individual members of the judiciary or some local courts) it is a helpful document for both lawyers and – I think – litigants. Whilst the PD [...]
I posted about extended family members being viewed as the cheap option by local authorities before – often being paid less than any other foster carer would be paid notwithstanding the fact that they are doing the same job, arguably with value-added. Here is another example of a Local Authority being taken to task over [...]
Family Drug & Alcohol Court
It’s been reported this week that the number of care proceedings issued in the London area is down by 30% since the Public Law Outline Pilot began, the Government in press releases and the FLBA in its recent members email both speculate that this may be down to an increase in placements with extended family. [...]
The people behind the bar
Although the details of how and why are yet to emerge, the news about Mark Saunders’ death is quite shocking for those of us at the family bar, which is a relatively small community. However, I don’t intend to speculate about what has happened – it is undoubtedly a very private tragedy for both Mark Saunders, [...]
I'm Back (Brain to follow shortly)
It’s hard to reach this keyboard with the babber in a sling on my chest…but darn it that’s not the toughest thing I’ve done in the last 3 weeks…Quick – while he’s sleeping – BLOG a BLOG… . Sigh…It’s hard to keep track of events in the legal world when I am (quite literally) drowning [...]
