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After the Act: Access to Family Justice after LASPO

After the Act: Access to Family Justice after LASPO

Author: Mavis Maclean; John Eekelaar
Publisher: Hart Publishing
ISBN: 9781509920198

Published In: April 2019
Format: Hardback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only
Paperback Edition ISBN: 9781509945719

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Description
Contents

Details

After the Act describes the aftermath of the recent removal under LASPO of public funding from legal services in family matters other than in cases of child protection and domestic abuse. Through analysis of the policy context, interviews with key players, observation of services provided by lawyers, students, lay support workers, and the advice sector, the authors describe the work being done and the skills being used in a range of settings.

The book raises questions not only about access to family justice, but about the role of law in family matters in an increasingly post legal society.

Fragmentation of the market in the new services offering information, initial advice, on-line or alternative dispute resolution, but rarely ongoing casework, raises questions about where costs fall and how quality can be assured. Many of these services are forms of private ordering, where outcomes are hard to assess.

Perhaps neither the state nor the individual can afford full legal services where the best interests of any child involved are of paramount importance, and lawyers negotiate to make best use of the resources available. Is it therefore time to consider using lawyers differently, with lay support, to solve problems before they become disputes?

1. Family Legal Problems and the Collapse of the Supportive State

I. Introduction

II. The Scope of the Problem

III. The Post-War Changes to Legal Aid

IV. Family Law: a Victim of its Own Success?

V. Legal Aid in Family Matters After 2013

VI. The Renewed Push for Mediation

VII. Paucity of Legal Provision

VIII. Child Support

IX. Are These Purely Private Matters?

X. Conclusions, Methodology and What Follows

2. Government Activity After LASPO

I. Community Legal Services

II. Assisting Litigants

III. Government Information Provision

IV. Conclusions

3. The Response of the Legal Professions to LASPO: I Solicitors’ Innovative and Pro Bono Activity

I. Innovative Practices

II. Pro Bono Activity

III. Regulation and Liability

4. Legal Advice Clinics: Observational Data

I. Clinic A: A Court-based Family Legal Advice Clinic (Staffed by Solicitors Assisted by PSU)

II. Clinic B: A University-based Clinic Comprising a Legal Advice Centre with Local Practitioners and Students and a Separate Student Family Help Desk at Court, Run by a ‘Pracademic’ (A Faculty Member with a Practising Certificate as a Family Solicitor)

III. Clinic C: A Family Legal Advice Clinic Linked with an Advice Agency

IV. Concluding Observations

5. The Response of the Legal Professions to LASPO: II Barristers in Action Pro Bono

I. Structural Issues

II. Liability and Insurance

III. Interview Data

IV. Conclusions

6. Judicial Initiatives

I. Introduction

II. Specific Problems and Initiatives

III. Observational Data

IV. Conclusions 4