The Representation of Children: from Aspiration to Extinction

By Christina Blacklaws and Sally Dowding Solicitors. The authors are respectively Chairs of the Law Society's Family Law Committee and Children Law Sub Committee. The views expressed are their own.

The Department for Constitutional Affairs/ Legal Services Commission (DCA/LSC) consultation paper Legal Aid: a sustainable future was published on the same day as Lord Carter's review. The authors state that the consultation's foreword recognises the pressure placed on civil and family legal aid by the growth of criminal legal aid but nowhere prepares the reader for the annihilation of the representation of children lurking within its pages. Solicitor advocates are to be paid considerably less than counsel for exactly the same work. The solicitor will receive the one advocacy fee no matter how many interim hearings or whether a final hearing lasts 2 hours or 10 days. The authors ponder whether those responsible for devising the consultation expect to pay more at Sainsburys for ten chickens than for two or perhaps the assumption is that practitioners' collective dedication enables them to survive on the oxygen of goodwill and job satisfaction without regard to mundane...

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