Counsel Magazine

THE potential human cost of denying vulnerable families and children access to expert legal support in care and related cases was revealed in a dossier of case studies, showing the difficulties which are already being encountered by family barristers as they seek to represent their clients to the best of their abilities.

The Family Law Bar Association (FLBA) submitted the case studies to the Ministry of Justice, which is overseeing deep cuts to funding support for vulnerable families and children as part of a major attack of the legal aid system. The FLBA is campaigning for no further cuts in a system which is already creaking under the strain of societal change and which faces greater demands for intervention to protect children at risk in the wake of Baby P.