Legal Aid Cases Down

Earlier this week the Scottish Legal Aid Board published it's annual report. Legal aid spending in Scotland totalled £155.1 million in 2007-08, a rise of 3%, despite a 12% drop in the number of cases. Of the £155 million, £126.4 million went to solicitors, £21.6 million to counsel and £18.1 million was spent on outlays. The civil legal aid bill rose 2% to £39.8 million. Children’s advice and assistance fell by 20% to 4,678 and Children’s legal aid grants fell by 6% to 4,206. key legal aid facts and figures 2007-2008 are available in pdf format.

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Confidentiality, Loosing Out & Sharia

In Marylyn Stowe's post 'Kitchen Confidential – by guest blogger Jonathan James' the misuse of documents and information during divorce proceedings, in particular copies of documents “left lying around” are considered in light of the recent English case White v Withers & Anor [2008] EWHC 2821 (QB)


Nigel Bradshaw of the Ancillary Actuary highlights two of three systematic failings in the way pension issues are settled in most divorces that causes a wife, or rather 'the person with the smaller final salary pension,' to lose out. The first fault, using CETVs for valuing final salary pensions is explained here and the second, the common practice of discounting, or reducing, a pension value when offsetting, is here.

I think it's right to question the logic of discounting a pension for offsetting purposes in divorce. From a finances POV I don't understand the idea that assets which can't be readily accessed are less valuable than those that can. I've never come across this in other countries apart from in England. Is it an American idea? (I always blame the Americans first and actuaries second)



Liquidity is not fixed and can vary depending on willing buyers and sellers in the market so is often only available in rising markets. Therefore there is no guarantee a house is a liquid asset all the time either.


John Bolch of Family Lore posts regarding the One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain launch at the House of Lords. The campaign is seeking legislation to curb the influence of sharia law in Britain. You can add your support by signing the Sharia Petition.


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Judicial Misadventure

In the wake of barrister and part-time judge Constance Briscoe appearing in the High Court as a defendant in a libel action brought by her own mother and the surprise resignation of Sheriff Andrew Lothian following allegations about his private life Helen MacKenzie of CaseCheck has written an article The Good, the Bad and the Ugly looking at other examples of judicial mishaps.

Allegedly a Judge was removed from the bench by the Virginia Supreme Court, after trying to encourage parents to resolve a Christmas visitation dispute by tossing a coin. It was found flipping a coin does not fully uphold the dignity of the judiciary (Times Online). Earlier in another case the same Judge ordered a woman to drop her trousers in court so that he could see a stab wound.

South Texas Justice of the Peace Gustavo Garza suggested parents could spank their errant children with the wooden 'paddle' in court instead of paying a fine. The parents of one teenager, who was struck, have now filed a claim against him. (Law.com)

In a drug trafficking case Australian judge Ian Dodd appeared to be asleep for periods of up to twenty minutes at a time and a retrial has been ordered. (Daily Mail)

US Judge Robert Restaino was removed from office last year after he jailed the entire courtroom (46 people) when no one admitted to owning the mobile phone that had gone off in court during a domestic violence hearing. (BBC)

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Comparing Apples and Oranges

..... Or in this case homicide with death statistics.

In an earlier post Accuracy I wrote about the confusion over the number of children dying as a result of abuse. Previously based on figures from Government homicide statistics the NSPCC estimated on average one child a week dies from abuse. In a recent report Ofsted said the the figure was 282 deaths over a 16 or 17 month period (depending on which news report you read!)

According to The Independent yesterday Christine Gilbert, the chief executive of the children's services watchdog, told a hearing of the Commons Select Committee on Children, Schools and Families that of the 282 cases of child deaths Ofsted had investigated most were a result of abuse and the remainder, 72, had died of other causes such as road accidents. This would put the average figure of 3 child deaths a week. So it appears the NSPCC's estimate is an oversimplification.

This together with the UCL Institute of Child Health research conclusions that found child maltreatment, including neglect, could be ten times the official rates is pretty depressing news.

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Parent Wars: Contact Enforcement

The measures in the Children & Adoption Act 2006 take effect in England & Wales as of today enabling judges to send parents in breach of contact orders to attend parenting classes, pay a fine or compensation. Those who do not comply can be ordered to do community service.

My reservations about overstretched courts not having the resources are echoed in The Times and there are doubts as some lawyers and solicitors fear the measures could backfire and inflame family relations.


10/12/08 Updates;-
Lucy Reed of Pink Tape rightly points out in this post that the Times article is slightly misleading in that courts already have the power to imprison and the new measures may lead to even fewer committals. Also a person subject to an enforcement order will be punished for contempt of court but not criminalised by the provisions as suggested.

In his post New Children Act Forms John Bolch of Family Lore describes amendments to the existing Children Act form C1 and the newly prescribed Children Act forms brought about by the Family Proceedings (Amendment) (No. 2) Rules 2008.

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