“The family court system is in danger of ‘collapsing in on itself’ after a surge in the number of warring parents turning up in person to launch child custody cases because of legal aid cuts, leading lawyers are warning.”
Daily Telegraph, 11th June 2013
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“RE F (CHILDREN) 14 May 2013, Court of Appeal – A topical case, this, given legal aid cutbacks. It concerns the ability of unrepresented litigants to choose those to help them out as advocates in court. Not an unconstrained right, as this case demonstrates. The High Court ruled that a judge had been entitled to refuse an application for a particular person to act as a McKenzie friend despite that individual not being present in court at the time of the application. The Court of Appeal upheld that decision.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 24th May 2013
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
“Government plans to reform the regime for court fees remissions and introduce a means test are too severe and ‘will diminish access to justice for a sizeable group of low-income families’, the Civil Justice Council (CJC) has warned.”
Litigation Futures, 22nd May 2013
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
“Anna Heenan, solicitor and David Salter, Joint Head of Family Law at Mills & Reeve LLP analyse the April financial remedies and divorce news and cases.”
Family Law Week, 12th May 2013
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
“It was time to ‘move on’ from the ‘bruising’ LASPO debate, the Lord McNally said yesterday. The legal aid minister told delegates at an event organised by the Westminster Legal Policy Forum that this month’s cuts would save £180m per annum alone. ‘Yet on the criminal side, we’re still spending £1 billion every year. A significant proportion of this spending is swallowed up by a few very high cost cases,’ the legal aid minister added.”
LegalVoice, 24th April 2013
Source: www.legalvoice.org.uk
“Labour’s Lord Bach fought a good deal harder in the House of Lords to defend legal aid from the coalition’s cuts than many of his colleagues. But, the key provisions of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 are now in force. Civil legal aid will never again have the comprehensive coverage that once it did: in particular, partners whose relationships break down are going to have a particularly hard time. No government, realistically, is going to restart funding at past levels. What can be done to assist the women who are most likely to be the major victims of these cuts?”
New Law Journal, 18th April 2013
Source: www.newlawjournal.co.uk
“The legal profession expects that changes to the legal aid system in England and Wales will lead to a rise in the number of people who have to represent themselves in court.”
BBC News, 6th April 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Family law, immigration and employment cases are no longer eligible for legal aid. So how can you take on the system alone?”
The Guardian, 1st April 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, has today published A Guide to Representing Yourself in Court.”
The Bar Council, 1st April 2013
Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk
“People who are forced to represent themselves in court as legal aid budgets are cut should not attempt to imitate the fast-talking lawyers they see on television, according to a new ‘idiot’s guide’.”
The Independent, 1st April 2013
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“Cuts to legal aid are forcing the closure of almost a third of Shelter’s housing advice centres and compelling the Red Cross to abandon its assistance for family reunions, the organisations claim.”
The Guardian, 11th March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A boat owner has won his appeal against the British Waterways Board preventing him from mooring his boats alongside his land on a tidal stretch of the Grand Canal. Although he had no common law right to permanently moor the boats, he had committed no actionable wrong in doing so, and they were therefore not moored ‘without lawful authority’ within the meaning of the British Waterways Act 1983. This judgment is an interesting and important endorsement of the principle in English law that everything is permitted except what is expressly forbidden.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 15th February 2013
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
In the public interest (PDF)
Speech by Mr Justice Foskett
The ‘Disciplinary Conference’, 8th February 2013
Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk
“Removing funding for a service that helps litigants in person on the day wide-ranging legal aid cuts take effect will create ‘absolute disarray’ in the courts, a former head of the family division has warned.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 30th January 2013
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Cuts to legal aid and grants means courts will be dealing with unprecedented number of self-represented litigants.”
The Guardian, 23rd January 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A guide for self-represented litigants making applications to the Interim Applications Court of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court has been published by the judiciary today (Friday 11 January).”
Judiciary of England and Wales, 11th January 2013
Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk
“Rodney Noon, solicitor, looks at the scope for bringing a family law case back before the first instance court and asking it to ‘think again’.”
Family Law Week, 8th January 2013
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
“On the eve of ‘D-Day’ – that’s Divorce Day, the first Monday back to work after the festive period, when warring couples are more likely to register for a divorce – lawyers warn that tens of thousands of people could find splitting up harder and more costly this year. And the number of those turning to ‘DIY divorce kits’ is expected to surge.”
The Independent, 6th January 2012
Source: www.independent.co.uk
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