Legal aid for private law cases under s 8 of the Children Act: is there any light at the end of the tunnel?

His Honour John Platt

and

David Emmerson

Head of Family Dispute Resolution and Family Finance at TV Edwards Solicitors

In this article the authors both of whom have many years' experience in this field look at the practical effects of the removal of legal aid from many areas of private family law. The article sets out briefly the areas in which legal aid remains available and then   looks in detail at the highly complicated exceptions to the new general rule which are necessary to ensure that the statute complies with Articles 6(1) and 8 of the Human Rights Convention.

The first part of the Article (Part II will follow later this year) examines in detail the ten gateways through which an applicant who is or has been a victim of domestic violence as now statutorily defined may be able to pass in order to qualify for legal aid. These are to be found in Regulation 33  of the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012. Similar provisions for cases of child abuse are contained in Regulation 34.

Each...

Read the full article here.