MckenzieBlog

Who would be a solicitor in England and Wales? Almost everyone it would seem!!

December 21, 2009

Interesting article and comments in the online version of the England and Wales Law Society Gazette, about the solicitor branch of the legal profession. Too may graduates, not enough training places. It’s gotten so bad that the Law Society in England is warning students about the situation.
As trainers and providers of family law McKenzie friends [...]

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“Do Your Own Divorce – A Practical Guide to Divorcing Without a Lawyer” Book Review

December 8, 2009

I am sure there are vocational lawyers out there who will be spitting feathers at the mere suggestion of doing a divorce without a lawyer, but don’t shoot the messenger as it is one of your own who has written this book! John Bolch is a solicitor with over 25 years experience specialising in divorce [...]

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The Children Act 1989 – past it’s sell by date?

December 7, 2009

Interesting piece in the Guardian about the alleged demise of court reporting generally given the collapse of the print media industry, and how a dearth of reporters reporting might militate against ‘Open Justice’. I would add that the prospect of having to pay for content might negatively affect reports reaching the general public.
Such is our [...]

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Dr Pelling speaks on Children Schools & Families Bill and statutory reversal of Clayton-v-Clayton

November 30, 2009

Dr Michael Pelling has given the following analysis of the effect of the Children Schools and Families Bill on existing “openness” precedents Clayton v.Clayton and Clibbery v.Allan and shows that far from increasing transparency in Family proceedings, the Bill in many respects does the exact opposite.
Why the Children Schools & Families Bill implies a statutory reversal [...]

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‘Publicity in Family Proceedings’ Panel Discussion, FLBA Annual Conference

November 29, 2009

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The Indy has a short note titled ‘Cuts warning over family courts’, about the FLBA Annual Conference held in Bath yesterday with Mr Justice Coleridge supposedly linking delay in family cases with increased media access.
The story doesn’t really make any sense until you read it in conjunction with this post by Lucy Reed, family [...]

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Progress for McKenzie friends in Scotland but still a way to go

November 26, 2009

Following on from our post about where McKenzie friends should sit Peter Cherbi has just announced on his blog that for the first time since the seminal judgment in McKenzie-v-McKenzie in 1970, a McKenzie friend has been permitted to assist a litigant in person in a Scottish Court.  Bizarrely however Lord Woolman decreed that the [...]

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Why family courts make such bad decisions?

November 26, 2009

A lot of parents (mostly dads) are unhappy with their experience in family court and the resulting judgment.  As a full time McKenzie friend/lay adviser and lay advocate in UK family courts I can tell you that a lot of times one parent has a right to be perplexed as to how a decision was [...]

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Is Social Work a profession?

November 24, 2009

It is fair to say that a social worker’s favourite word is ‘professional’ or derivatives thereof. At a case conference I attended recently with a client, the word was bandied about as if it was well accepted in society that social worker’s were ‘professionals’. This notion of social workers as ‘professionals’ didn’t sit well with [...]

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Northern Ireland AR Case Law D-v-D (Post Agreement Windfall) [2009] Master 75

November 23, 2009

Knowing as I do that we are followed by a lot of notables in the UK family law community I wonder what our cousins in England and Wales think of this judgment and what comments they would make on the arguments advanced by counsel and the reasoning employed by the judge, Master Bell.
I certainly wouldn’t [...]

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Judge orders boy to live with father against his wishes

November 20, 2009

Before you all get too excited about this case as reported in the Daily Telegraph I would ask you to hold off from rushing to include this in your skeleton arguments until you see the actual judgment from the Court of Appeal. Hope I am wrong but this seems to me more akin to an [...]

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Solicitors and Legal Aid

November 20, 2009

Story here about legal aid solicitors getting paid less than sewage workers and prison officers.
I am sorry to sound unsympathetic, but I don’t see the linkage between legal aid rates for solicitors and the salary that solicitors receive?
From a business perspective it is up to a firm to decide what to pay their solicitors and [...]

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++++BREAKING NEWS++++ Equality Schemes in Northern Ireland not as equal as they are supposed to be???

November 15, 2009

Read on and be prepared to be absolutely gobsmacked. This is breaking news, NEVER published anywhere else to my knowledge. How often can a blogger say that?
Family Court Support are assisting a man, who following an altercation between himself and his partner in the summer a number of children were put on the Child Protection [...]

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CAFCASS being judicially reviewed?

November 14, 2009

Haven’t seen this confirmed from any Government source but the ultra reliable Pink Tape blog broke this story yesterday.
Of course this JR will be unsuccessful, given how administrative law works.
One thing the lawyers need to look at is how many CAFCASS people are salaried and how many are self employed? I find little in the [...]

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Real Father’s For Justice in Belfast

November 13, 2009

Before I kick this off I would just like to make clear that I am not, never have been and unlikely ever will be a member of F4J, Real F4J, UnrealF4J, ContinuityF4J (Northern Ireland specific observation) or any other F4J incarnation.
My eldest son who is 14 now used to laugh when I joshed him that [...]

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Legal Services says it will not fund Independent Social Workers

November 13, 2009

Jordan’s family law Newswatch have this story, which represents the current position of the Legal Services Commission.
Judges are right to be seeking to reduce delay in contact and residence cases as the delay damages the child’s relationship  with the parent that they aren’t getting to see. Judge’s are only experts in law, so they cant [...]

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Beautician with Right of Audience trounces counsel

November 12, 2009

Wonderfully inspiring account of how a 23 year beautician from Essex was granted a Right of Audience (from this account it would seem that it was a Discretionary Right of Audience,  as story doesn’t say she was a party) to advocate her mother’s case on appeal against a major firm of builders and their lawyers [...]

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