After the Act

Access to Family Justice after LASPO
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5099-4571-9
Verlag: Hart Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 208 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 304 g

After the Act describes the aftermath of the recent removal under LASPO of public funding from legal services in family matters other than in defined cases such as 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 outline 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, online 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.

If 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, perhaps it is time to consider using lawyers differently, with lay support, to solve problems before they become disputes.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Maclean, Mavis

Eekelaar, John

Fachgebiete

• Rechtswissenschaften Ausländisches Recht Common Law (UK, USA, Australien u.a.)

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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
7. Support in Court by Non-Lawyers

I. The Personal Support Unit (PSU)

II. McKenzie Friends

8. The Student Contribution: Clinical Legal Education

I. Aims

II. Organisation of CLE

III. Regulating CLE

IV. CLE Training and Student Preparation for Family Work: Observational Data

V. Conclusions on Student Pro Bono Activity

9. The Third Sector

I. Introduction

II. Observational Data

III. 'Advice' in the Third Sector

10. Public Legal Education - Legal Capability and the Boundaries of Law

I. The Legal Education Foundation

II. Law for Life

III. AdviceNow
IV. Reflections on PLE

11. A Post-Legal World for Family Disputes?

I. The Initiatives Summarised

II. Impact Evaluation

III. Which Way Forward?

IV. The Place of Law in Family Matters

Über Autor(innen)

Maclean, Mavis
Mavis Maclean is Co-Founder of the Oxford Centre for Family Law and Policy, Department of Social Policy and Intervention, Oxford University and Senior Research Fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford, UK.

Photo courtesy of the University of Oxford: https://www.spi.ox.ac.uk/people/profile/maclean/index.html

Eekelaar, John
John Eekelaar is Emeritus Fellow of Pembroke College, University of Oxford.

Photo courtesy of Faculty of Law, University of Oxford.

Mavis Maclean CBE was a co-founder of the Oxford Centre for Family Law and Policy, and is currently Senior Associate at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, and Senior Research Fellow, St Hilda's College, University of Oxford.
John Eekelaar is Emeritus Fellow of Pembroke College, University of Oxford.