A judge has praised a lawyer for acting "in the highest traditions of the
profession" after her client missed out on legal aid by £70.
Rebecca Stevens has been acting for a man with a mental impairment as he and his wife, who has a borderline learning disability, fight Swindon Council's attempts to put their son, named 'D' in the proceedings, up for adoption because it does not believe they can adequately look after him.
Because the father's job brings in £806.94 disposable income a month, he earns £73.94 too much to qualify for legal aid. Which means that although he has an IQ of 50, he would have had to face the local authority without proper representation. In his recently released judgment, President of the Family Court Sir James Munby said the prospect was "unthinkable".
However, Stevens, of Withy King Solicitors, agreed to represent him pro bono, and has worked on the case filing application after application for free since April. In his judgment Sir James said, "And as if all this was not enough – indeed, far more than enough – I am told that Ms Stevens has spent in excess of 100 hours, all unremunerated, working to resolve, thus far without success, the issue of the father’s entitlement to legal aid. This is devotion to the client far above and far beyond the call of duty".
Sir James reserved his brickbat for the government, branding it "unprincipled and unconscionable" for relying on lawyers like Stevens to work for nothing in order to cover the legal aid gap and give children like D a fair trial, noting, "Thus far the State has simply washed its hands of the problem".
Stevens said her client was "a remarkable person" and that it was "abhorrent, unfair and unjust" that public funding was not automatic where the state sought to take a child for adoption. As for Sir James, in his judgment he vowed to raid "some other public pocket to which the court can have resort" in order to find the father's legal aid money, inviting the goverment to object if it thinks it is hard enough.
Tip Off ROF
Rebecca Stevens has been acting for a man with a mental impairment as he and his wife, who has a borderline learning disability, fight Swindon Council's attempts to put their son, named 'D' in the proceedings, up for adoption because it does not believe they can adequately look after him.
Because the father's job brings in £806.94 disposable income a month, he earns £73.94 too much to qualify for legal aid. Which means that although he has an IQ of 50, he would have had to face the local authority without proper representation. In his recently released judgment, President of the Family Court Sir James Munby said the prospect was "unthinkable".
However, Stevens, of Withy King Solicitors, agreed to represent him pro bono, and has worked on the case filing application after application for free since April. In his judgment Sir James said, "And as if all this was not enough – indeed, far more than enough – I am told that Ms Stevens has spent in excess of 100 hours, all unremunerated, working to resolve, thus far without success, the issue of the father’s entitlement to legal aid. This is devotion to the client far above and far beyond the call of duty".
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Almost as good as getting paid |
Sir James reserved his brickbat for the government, branding it "unprincipled and unconscionable" for relying on lawyers like Stevens to work for nothing in order to cover the legal aid gap and give children like D a fair trial, noting, "Thus far the State has simply washed its hands of the problem".
Stevens said her client was "a remarkable person" and that it was "abhorrent, unfair and unjust" that public funding was not automatic where the state sought to take a child for adoption. As for Sir James, in his judgment he vowed to raid "some other public pocket to which the court can have resort" in order to find the father's legal aid money, inviting the goverment to object if it thinks it is hard enough.
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Discretion needs to be applied. While the chap earned just over the minimum amount, he is hardly a wealthy man and his impairment means he needs representation at taxpayer expense.
All the best to Rebecca.
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I wonder if Withy King met her time half way..?.