August 04, 2017 | Posted by :
J Morris |
Blog
The government has admitted that cuts to legal aid may have influenced a drop in the number of couples using family mediation to work through the separation process. Following the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) of 2012, the amount of mediation information and assessment meetings (MIAMs) declined sharply, and numbers currently stand at approximately half previous levels.
Before the LASPO act, legal aid helped to fund MIAMs and facilitate contact between individuals and law firms, and couples were previously required to consider mediation via an assessment before they could receive legal aid to cover the costs of going to court. The cuts to legal aid appear to have had a direct knock-on effect on this process. ...
November 11, 2014 | Posted by :
J Morris |
Blog
Justice Minister Chris Grayling faced outrage in the press earlier this year for a policy that banned books being sent to prisoners, and now is the recipient of widespread criticism over cuts to legal aid. Solicitors are now taking Grayling to a judicial review, concerned that recent changes to the family law system are detrimental to parents going through the process of separation.
Despite the Justice Minister asserting that reforms are “going exactly to plan”, the House of Commons Justice Committee is undertaking an investigation of the results of the legal aid cuts made by the coalition in April 2013. Funding support for
September 13, 2013 | Posted by :
J Morris |
Blog
President of the Family Division Sir James Munby has spoken out against the lack of legal aid available to those unable to pay for court proceedings after a mother facing jail was forced to rely on her solicitor to act pro bono.
“There can be no higher call on the honour of the bar than when one of its members is asked to act for no fee on behalf of a client facing imprisonment,” he said.
“It is disconcerting that something so fundamental – the right to a proper defence when a great officer of state seeks to have you imprisoned – should be dependent upon the willingness of the bar and its instructing solicitor to act without fee.”
Sir Munby concluded that ...
April 15, 2013 | Posted by :
Frances Lindsay |
Blog
It’s not enough for Legal Aid for family matters to have been all but abolished but it has to be trumpeted on every TV channel, News Station and Radio programme. You would think that the end of the world was nigh! Well not it’s not. Global warming and the chap in North Korea will see to that but probably not any time soon. It is however distressing and frightening for people in difficult relationships who really need to find a way out and who need some help in doing so.
If you believe all that you see on TV or read in the paper then you would think that every divorce, separation, family dispute costs hundreds of thousands of pounds in ...