Delays in family courts
Times (£), Gazette, Guardian, Morning Star, Kiss FM UK, Rock FM, and several regional publications continue coverage on the delays in family courts which are causing children removed from parents to wait for over a year for a decision on where they will live.
Law Society President Lubna Shuja said: “What is often missed in the debate around the unacceptable backlogs in our family courts is the impact on children.
“They are suffering the very real consequences of months and sometimes years of uncertainty about their future, preventing them from having the stability they need to thrive.”
Cris McCurley, a member of the Law Society’s Access to Justice Committee, said: “The entire family courts system is creaking after years of austerity cuts and neglect.”
Jenny Beck KC, a member of the Law Society’s Family Law Committee, said: “Many of the options available in private family law cases need not involve the courts. However, without advice from a solicitor many parents turn to litigation, which inevitably increases conflict and has overwhelmed the courts, resulting in harmful delay.”
Minimum salary rise for trainees
The Legal Cheek covers the Law Society’s recommendation for a 10% rise in minimum salary for trainee solicitors.
President Lubna Shuja said: “We consider the increase in the recommended salary for aspiring solicitors to be appropriate at this time. There are a range of factors that were considered during our discussions around the minimum salary policy and uplift, including the rise in cost-of-living expenses – which have particularly hit those on lower salaries – and the economic impact on solicitors’ businesses.”
Digital Property Market Steering Group
Today’s Conveyancer reveals the Law Society’s reaction to the formation of the Digital Property Market Steering Group.
President Lubna Shuja said: “The Law Society is committed to improving the home-buying experience for consumers and others involved in the conveyancing process. Whilst we know that chains of transactions can lengthen timescales, involving sellers’ solicitors at an early stage would make the process smoother and more efficient.
“We recognise that the combined efforts of the whole sector – regulators, professional and trade bodies, and government – are needed to achieve this. This new group provides a forum for collaboration and achieving change, while enabling individual members to progress their own work in a co-ordinated way.”
Mandatory jail sentencing
Scott Bowen, member of the Law Society’s Criminal Law Committee, tells Times Radio (from 01:14:06) that those caught repeatedly shoplifting, stealing, burglarising, or committing common assault may face mandatory jail sentences, as part of a new crime and justice bill.
International trade in legal services
Chair of the Law Society’s Policy & Regulatory Affairs Committee, Jonathan Goldsmith, writes in the Gazette about the IBA’s new handbook for international trade agreements and mentions the work of the Law Society’s international team.
Also worth a read:
- SRA asks for unlimited fining power– Gazette
- Bar Council says LSB should have no role in regulating the lawful use of NDAs – Legal Futures
- New figures show that prisons in England and Wales will run out of space in next three years – Times (£)
- New report calls out the impact of anti-protest laws on the UK’s democracy – Guardian
- Post Office Inquiry story develops – Times (£)
- Strikes set for August – Independent