Honiton based Ian Walker Family Law and Mediation Solicitors have become one of a handful of new providers of advice and representation in Family Law cases through Legal Aid. The Specialist Practice was founded by East Devon resident Ian Walker at the start of 2013.
The 1st April saw major changes to Legal Aid. Under the changes, legal aid is still available to parents in cases involving Social Services and to those who have been subjected to domestic abuse or who need to protect a child. There are new detailed rules specifying what evidence of the abuse is needed before someone can receive advice and assistance about divorce and child contact and money issues. Most families, who would have received legal aid, will now be expected to find solutions through attending (more…)
There are lots of Family Mediators and Mediation Services. Mediators will have different backgrounds and levels of experience. Remember that the basic mediation training course is only 9 days long. The mediator will of course have skills form their other professional background, but a lot of skill is acquired through actual practice. When choosing a Mediator, their style is important and so is their ability to build a relationship with you. What is their ability to help you resolve your dispute?
20 Questions to ask
There are lots of Solicitors who undertake Family Law work. How do you choose who will be best for you? You need to know how they will work and what they will charge. You need to know what their style is, and their ability to build a relationship with you? What is their legal knowledge? Perhaps most importantly, what is their ability to resolve your dispute?
1. When did they qualify as a Solicitor? Someone who is recently qualified could do a better job than someone who has been practicing for 30 years, but generally experience should bring a better sense of how to steer you to a successful outcome by the best route. What you want to know is; are they experienced in resolving problems like yours? Are they actually qualified?
2. Who will do the work? You have a great Solicitor, but will they delegate all the work to a trainee or to someone who is junior or with no qualifications? Who will be your main contact? You have (in theory) a great Solicitor, but will you ever be able to get hold of them? (This is not to say work cannot be delegated. You need to understand how your case will be looked after)
3. When did they specialise in Family Law? A similar but subtly different question to no 1. Sometimes a breadth of experience can be helpful, other times you can spread yourself too thinly. Family Law is not the same as other types of litigation. If it were, there would have been no need for the founding of the Solicitors Family Law Association (now Resolution)(see number 4)
4. Are they a member of Resolution? Why would anyone not want to commit themselves to Resolution’s Code of Practice? Which asks members to; Conduct matters in a constructive and non-confrontational way; Avoid use of inflammatory language both written and spoken; Retain professional objectivity and respect for everyone involved; Encourage clients to put the best interests of the children first; Take into account the long term consequences of actions and communications as well as the short term implications; Emphasise to clients the importance of being open and honest in all dealings; Make clients aware of the benefits of behaving in a civilised way; Ensure that consideration is given to balancing the benefits of any steps against the likely costs – financial or emotional; Keep financial and children issues separate; Inform clients of the options e.g. counselling, family therapy, round table negotiations, mediation, collaborative law and court proceedings; Abide by the Resolution Guides to Good Practice. Names of all members can be found on the Resolution Website
5. Are they accredited? (If so, by whom, and with what specialities? When did they gain accreditation?) Resolution and the Law Society both run accreditation schemes which require experience and demonstrable skill and knowledge. Why instruct someone who is not accredited?
6. Are they a Collaborative Lawyer? This is an out of court process to resolve divorce related issues. Training does not bring an accreditation; however it demonstrates an openness and commitment to progressive practice.
7. Are they a Mediator? Mediation is a different process to legal representation. However any Solicitor-Mediator will tell you that they believe that they are a better Solicitor because they are a Mediator and vice versa. What it means is that they are more likely to identify if your case is suitable for mediation, and refer you to a good mediator, and equip you to make the most out of the mediation process.
8. Are they respected on a national level? There are various national committees/subcommittees (E.g. the Law Society Family Law Committee, Resolution, Family Mediators Association) which promote best practice and Law reform. That someone is willing to volunteer to play a role, says something of their commitment to progressive values. Other examples could include writing books etc.
9. Are they respected locally? Do they participate in local committees, e.g., the local Resolution Region or the Local Law Society branch? They may have been elected by their peers to a post? Would local Solicitors recommend them?
10. What is the ethos of the Firm? (Huh?!)Put it another way; do they see themselves as a big commercial law firm, where the family law team barely gets a mention on the website? Is there a billing, billing, billing, culture? Are they going to charge for photocopies? Or are they a niche practice, where they only do family work? Does the firm encourage participation in Resolution etc., Do you sense the Solicitor is happy at work? (If they leave, will you follow them, or have your case transferred to someone else?)(disruption, stress and cost)
11. Do they give the cheapest quote? How can anyone know what the final costs will be? Beware of a tendency to quote low and unrealistic in order to gain work (The report of the Legal Ombudsman from February 2013 “The price of separation: Divorce related legal complaints and their causes” is a good read) . If you are comparing price, look instead for the Solicitors hourly charging rate; £250 p/h or £ 150 p/h? This takes you back to who is actually going to do the work?
12. What are you going to do? Your Solicitor may give you lots of good advice and recommend you enter into a Collaborative Law process, however at the end of the day it is the client who gives instructions. If you don’t follow advice, be obstructive, hide money, mess the other person around, be on the phone or email to your Solicitor all the time; you will end up with a more stressful, expensive and longer process!
13. How does the Solicitor propose to resolve your case? Going to Court should be the last resort. It is expensive and uncertain, albeit sometimes there really is no alternative. Their starting point should be to be looking at how to assist you to achieve a realistic negotiated solution to the problem.
Having chosen the best Solicitor for you, follow their advice! And be open and honest and respectful in your dealings with them and the other person.
What is the “Law Society Children Law Accreditation Scheme” also known as “the Children Panel”?
The Law Society answers this question on its website saying that;
“the Children Law Accreditation Scheme covers all types of children law work. Members will have shown, to the satisfaction of the Law Society, that they have and will maintain a high level of knowledge, skills, experience and practice in the area of children law, be that in private practice or working for a local authority”
Membership has to be renewed every 5 years. I have spent the last couple of weeks preparing a definitive list of members who are based in Devon in consultation with my fellow members and in conjunction with the Committee of the Devon Region of Resolution (of which I am past Chair). The list, which shows geographical location has now been circulated to our Judges, Social Services and CAFCASS. Unfortunately there have been problems with obtaining an up to date list and its circulation.
If you need something done, its sometimes quicker to do it yourself! So I did; not as complicated as founding a Law firm, that’s for sure!
There are 57 members who are based in Devon. There are 7 who go to work each day to office in East Devon. 4 of those are in Exmouth. The other 3 are in Honiton and I am one of them. Following the Legal Aid Tender, Legal Aid cover has been reduced to Honiton and Exmouth only, meaning that there is no Solicitors office in Seaton, Axminster, Seaton, Sidmouth or Ottery St Mary, which is able to offer Family Legal Aid. Good job I opened! If you would like a copy of the children panel list give me a call.
The Legal Aid Agency have now published the outcome of the recent tender process for Family Legal Aid Contracts. The Results are in the news section of the Legal Aid Agency website. These show that in the East, Mid, North and West Devon area, only 19 offices were awarded contracts. Exmouth is included in the Exeter area. The Offices with Legal Aid contracts in the town are those of Vine Orchards, Everys and Ford Simey. In the rest of, and central area of East Devon the only offices with Legal Aid contracts are here in Honiton. These are myself, (Ian Walker Family Law and Mediation Solicitors), Everys, Ford Simey and Neil Griffin. Of these Neil’s contract is shown as being for “Licensed Work”. What this means, is that it is not for the initial level of advice, but rather for the going to Court Level only.
This means that there is no Solicitors office with a contract to offer legal aid work from that office in Seaton, Sidmouth, Ottery St Mary, or Axminster. This means (by my understanding) anyone who wanted to apply for legal aid in Seaton, Sidmouth, Axminster and Ottery St Mary, would need to travel to a Solicitors office in Honiton or Exmouth or Exeter to make their application.
My office in Honiton does of course have lots of free parking, and is on the bus route from Ottery st Mary to Honiton. I am the only Solicitor based in East Devon, who is accredited as a family law specialist, a child law specialist and who is an accredited mediator.
On the subject of Family Mediation, only 79 new contracts were awarded nationally. The results confirm that we are the only mediation service based in East Devon which has a contract. That there were only a limited number of new contracts is not surprising, given that you needed to have a senior/experienced mediator with correct accreditation’s with the service to gain a contract. There are not as many accredited mediators as you might think, so the bar to get a contract was set quite high, and rightly so.
Legal Aid became available for family mediation, shortly after I trained in 1996. At that stage, there was little mediation work around, and to get a legal aid contract did not require very much. How times change. Anyway, what is important now, is to choose the right mediator. There is a page on this in the site.
It is worth repeating my blog from March. This is below;
The BBC are today reporting; that “Ex-minister Chris Huhne is fighting a claim for more than £100,000 in legal costs following his conviction for perverting the course of justice.” and that
“Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC said the CPS had done “an enormous amount of work” based on that claim and accused the former MP for Eastleigh of “serious misconduct” given that he ultimately pleaded guilty on the eve of his trial. “All of this occurred because Mr Huhne decided to do everything he could to try and get away with what he had done and gave in only at the last minute when defeat was inevitable,” Mr Edis said. “This was essentially predominantly caused by Mr Huhne’s decision to make two applications – first to apply to dismiss on the grounds of insufficiency of evidence and secondly to apply to stay the proceedings as an abuse of process.” Mr Edis said the cost of the case included more than £31,000 in police overtime, resulting from Operation Solar, which was launched after Huhne’s legal team raised doubts about whether he could receive a fair trial.”
“Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC said the CPS had done “an enormous amount of work” based on that claim and accused the former MP for Eastleigh of “serious misconduct” given that he ultimately pleaded guilty on the eve of his trial.
“All of this occurred because Mr Huhne decided to do everything he could to try and get away with what he had done and gave in only at the last minute when defeat was inevitable,” Mr Edis said.
“This was essentially predominantly caused by Mr Huhne’s decision to make two applications – first to apply to dismiss on the grounds of insufficiency of evidence and secondly to apply to stay the proceedings as an abuse of process.”
Mr Edis said the cost of the case included more than £31,000 in police overtime, resulting from Operation Solar, which was launched after Huhne’s legal team raised doubts about whether he could receive a fair trial.”
Funnily enough, or rather tragically, I took a phone call this morning at my office in Honiton from someone with an intractable family dispute about her child, WHO IS NO LONGER ELIGIBLE FOR LEGAL AID. Perhaps if Mr Huhne and others like him, pleaded guilty at an early stage, and didn’t conduct proceedings to increase the costs incurred by the taxpayer (in order to achieve justice), there might have been more money available to save more of legal aid. How did Mr Huhne vote when it came to cutting legal aid for ordinary people for family problems?
Do we have any sympathy for him? DEFINITELY NOT. He should jolly well be ashamed of himself.
This was my original blog;
The Jury has decided. Both are guilty. The Judge has passed sentence; Prison for both. Vicky Pryce’s defence of marital coercion was rejected. He/they should never have broken the law. They have wasted a lot of public money and judicial time by not owning up properly at the beginning. That Judicial time means that other cases have taken longer to deal with. Somewhere in the system, the time could have been allocated to allow a case concerning a child to be dealt with more quickly. Police time could have been used to investigate people who are a danger to children, or protecting victims of domestic violence. Sadly they compounded their original dishonesty by playing out their acrimonious divorce in public. They were married for 26 years of marriage. They have 3 children together. Some of the personal communications involving at least one of their children formed part of the evidence. It is tragic for any child to have to witness their parents in the dock and to be drawn into their dispute. The Court was told that the cost of Huhne’s prosecution was £79,015 and £38,544 for Pryce’s. Prosecutors were also seeking to recover an extra £31,000 from Huhne for public costs connected to his attempts to get the case thrown out and the extra investigation this entailed. Huhne would seem to have had the means to try to get the case thrown out of court, when he knew he was guilty all along. But we are fast approaching 1 April 2013. Swingeing cuts to legal aid are being brought in by a Government of which Huhne was a member. It is worth repeating the Law Society Press Release of 5 March 2013 entitled “Law Society response to Lord Neuberger’s fears about people taking the law into their own hands” which was published in response to reported concerns of the UK’s most senior Judge, Lord Neuberger. “The Law Society today backed Lord Neuberger, the president of the Supreme Court, who aired fears about the fact that from next month thousands of people will no longer have access to free legal advice after the government withdraws funding for numerous categories of civil and family law. Lord Neuberger said his main worry was that those frustrated by an inability to seek justice would ‘take the law into their own hands’. Responding to Lord Neuberger’s concerns, Richard Miller, head of Legal Aid at the Law Society, said: ‘We echo Lord Neuberger’s fears about people taking the law into their own hands as a result of an inability to seek justice following the government’s civil legal aid cuts. He has spelled out exactly what we’ve been saying for a very long time; there is clear evidence that the government’s civil legal aid cuts will cause significant knock-on costs within the legal aid budget, across the rest of the Ministry, and in other government departments. They could easily cost the taxpayer more than they save. ‘King’s College research findings, commissioned by the Law Society and published in January last year, showed that cutting access to justice for people on low incomes is a devastating false economy. As well as all the knock-on costs, the social consequences will be damaging to the whole of society, not just the vulnerable who will take the worst hit of all. The Law Society has previously suggested alternative savings that would make a bigger contribution to reducing the deficit by making the civil justice system more efficient, but the government chose to ignore this. ‘The biggest regret is that Lord Neuberger’s warning has generated so much attention, just weeks ahead of these cuts being implemented, whereas similar warnings, from many quarters before and during the Parliamentary process during which these cuts were introduced, went largely ignored by government.’” Access to Justice is a fundamental part of a democratic society. Legal Aid is an important, but neglected part of our welfare state. After 1st April many hard working people will not be able to access the Courts with professional representation. Perhaps the real tragedy is the personal one for the children of Huhne and Pryce, and the coming one for hundreds of thousands who will soon feel the effects of the Legal Aid cuts being brought in by the Government of which Huhne was a member, and those who may have been helped by better use of the time wasted by the case being fought as long as it was.
The Jury has decided. Both are guilty. The Judge has passed sentence; Prison for both. Vicky Pryce’s defence of marital coercion was rejected.
He/they should never have broken the law.
They have wasted a lot of public money and judicial time by not owning up properly at the beginning. That Judicial time means that other cases have taken longer to deal with. Somewhere in the system, the time could have been allocated to allow a case concerning a child to be dealt with more quickly. Police time could have been used to investigate people who are a danger to children, or protecting victims of domestic violence.
Sadly they compounded their original dishonesty by playing out their acrimonious divorce in public. They were married for 26 years of marriage. They have 3 children together. Some of the personal communications involving at least one of their children formed part of the evidence. It is tragic for any child to have to witness their parents in the dock and to be drawn into their dispute.
The Court was told that the cost of Huhne’s prosecution was £79,015 and £38,544 for Pryce’s. Prosecutors were also seeking to recover an extra £31,000 from Huhne for public costs connected to his attempts to get the case thrown out and the extra investigation this entailed. Huhne would seem to have had the means to try to get the case thrown out of court, when he knew he was guilty all along.
But we are fast approaching 1 April 2013. Swingeing cuts to legal aid are being brought in by a Government of which Huhne was a member.
It is worth repeating the Law Society Press Release of 5 March 2013 entitled “Law Society response to Lord Neuberger’s fears about people taking the law into their own hands” which was published in response to reported concerns of the UK’s most senior Judge, Lord Neuberger.
“The Law Society today backed Lord Neuberger, the president of the Supreme Court, who aired fears about the fact that from next month thousands of people will no longer have access to free legal advice after the government withdraws funding for numerous categories of civil and family law. Lord Neuberger said his main worry was that those frustrated by an inability to seek justice would ‘take the law into their own hands’.
Responding to Lord Neuberger’s concerns, Richard Miller, head of Legal Aid at the Law Society, said:
‘We echo Lord Neuberger’s fears about people taking the law into their own hands as a result of an inability to seek justice following the government’s civil legal aid cuts. He has spelled out exactly what we’ve been saying for a very long time; there is clear evidence that the government’s civil legal aid cuts will cause significant knock-on costs within the legal aid budget, across the rest of the Ministry, and in other government departments. They could easily cost the taxpayer more than they save.
‘King’s College research findings, commissioned by the Law Society and published in January last year, showed that cutting access to justice for people on low incomes is a devastating false economy. As well as all the knock-on costs, the social consequences will be damaging to the whole of society, not just the vulnerable who will take the worst hit of all. The Law Society has previously suggested alternative savings that would make a bigger contribution to reducing the deficit by making the civil justice system more efficient, but the government chose to ignore this.
‘The biggest regret is that Lord Neuberger’s warning has generated so much attention, just weeks ahead of these cuts being implemented, whereas similar warnings, from many quarters before and during the Parliamentary process during which these cuts were introduced, went largely ignored by government.’”
Access to Justice is a fundamental part of a democratic society. Legal Aid is an important, but neglected part of our welfare state. After 1st April many hard working people will not be able to access the Courts with professional representation. Perhaps the real tragedy is the personal one for the children of Huhne and Pryce, and the coming one for hundreds of thousands who will soon feel the effects of the Legal Aid cuts being brought in by the Government of which Huhne was a member, and those who may have been helped by better use of the time wasted by the case being fought as long as it was.
I running a series of ads in the Primary Times. I have been reading the Primary Times for over 10 years, starting when my oldest attended Colyton Primary. I find it really useful when thinking of what to do during school holidays. It was a simple choice to decide to advertise there. Until I set up, there was no mediation service based in East Devon with a legal aid contract. This meant that parents in Seaton, Honiton, Axminster and other East Devon villages and towns might have to go into Exeter to see a mediator. Fancy having to do that when you have young children and need to get back for the school run! The extra time, petrol, parking and stress! Not helpful at all. And so it is important that I make parents aware of my presence and (more…)
As I have set up Ian Walker Family Law and Mediation Solicitors, I have had to decide how to stock my library. Books or eBooks? Or with so much on the internet, why even bother at all?! In the end I have gone for the paper copy of the leading book in each of my main fields; Duckworth on Matrimonial Finance [A very thick volume which is updated as the year progresses] Hershman and McFarlane: Children Law and Practice [similar but four volumes] and for mediation; ADR: Principles and Practice by Henry Brown and Arthur Marriott, QC. Incidentally it was Henry Brown who trained me as both a Family and Civil/Commercial Mediator. Even more incidentally I found out toward the end of last year that he had once acted for Nelson Mandela. Henry is a brilliant guy. He was behind the use of mediation to resolve financial arrangements after divorce in the UK. Henry decided to train as a mediator and travelled to New York to be trained by the late, great John Haynes who was a pioneer of mediation [see http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2000/mar/09/guardianobituaries1 ]. Henry subsequently became one of the founders of FMA and Mediation training by SFLA (now Resolution) . I was trained as a Mediator by Henry in 1996. At the time John Haynes was also training in the UK for an organisation called BALM; British Association of Lawyer Mediators. It was easier to persuade my then employers to let me train with SFLA, because a) it was cheaper! and b)they had heard of SFLA (but not BALM), It was excellent training, I do not regret the choice. Its a shame I couldn’t have done both. This brings me to the best book in my library; John Haynes; “Fundamentals of Family Mediation”. I bought it when I trained as a mediator. Its a slender tome; only a bit over 250 pages, with diagrams and checklists, and in a reasonable sized type face. Its my best book because it reminds me that Mediation is a fundamentally simple process. I read things by other mediators sometimes trying to complicate the process, perhaps to add their own mark (as they see it), but Mediation is a simple process and it works! So there they are, with a few others on my bookshelf in my office in Honiton.
Unfortunately, many, perhaps most people, including professionals are not fully clear of the extent of the legal aid cuts. Legal Aid is still available for cases involving social services and to obtain protection orders (Injunctions). It has been mostly scrapped for divorce and child contact and residence. Where someone has been a victim of abuse in the last two years or has a child living with them, where there is a non urgent risk, then provided they can prove the abuse or risk (Detailed rules about acceptable evidence apply) then legal aid is still there. However where there is no abuse or risk or the right evidence, there is no legal aid. Well not quite none. Legal Aid will only cover family mediation and limited advice in support of the mediation process. The couple have to see the mediator first. As I sit in my office in Honiton, I know that I am the only accredited mediator with a service with a contract to provide legally aided mediation who is based in East Devon. The other services are essentially focused on Exeter and the A38/M5 corridor. I have addresses where i can mediate from in Exmouth, Cullompton, Exeter and Taunton and a few other places. I am accessible from Seaton Axminster, Ottery St Mary, Sidmouth and East Devon generally. How did this happen? Well, maybe its because I actually live in east Devon, and have done so for some 15 years and when I decided where to base my own practice, I concluded that there would be a demand for a mediation service based here in Honiton. Give me a call on 01404 819098 if you need me. Trust me, Mediation is generally the best way to sort out family problems anyway.
Sadly they compounded their original dishonesty by playing out their acrimonious divorce in public. They were married for 26 years of marriage. They have 3 children together. Some of the personal communications involving at least one of their children formed part of the evidence. It is tragic for any child to have to witness their parents in the dock and to be drawn into their dispute. (more…)
