Legal Challenge to the Legal aid DA means test

Potentially game changing Legal Challenge to the Legal aid DA means test Yesterday the Public Law Project and Beck Fitzgerald Solicitors went to the high court to challenge the financial eligibility, or means rules that prevent so many women getting access to free...

Domestic violence victim denied legal aid seeks judicial review

Woman contests rules that could force her to cross-examine ex-partner in court A victim of domestic violence, who is surviving on universal credit but has been denied legal aid in a battle to hold on to her home, is challenging strict regulations that could force her...

Update: Urgent call for inquiry into domestic abuse in family courts

Jenny Beck and Cris McCurley of Ben Hoare Bell have been at the forefront of the campaign for an independent inquiry into the failure of the family courts to protect victims of abuse and their children from domestic abuse. The campaign is in response to a lacklustre...

Letter to the Rt Hon David Gauke MP

To the Rt Hon David Gauke MP, We are a group of concerned family and human rights lawyers, working in-house in women’s organisations, in private practice and at the Bar, who support the letter sent to you by a group of over 120 cross-party MPs calling for an...

Contact at all costs?

Why is our system placing children at risk? More than 120 MPs led by Louise Haig MP have written to the government asking for an inquiry into how family courts in England and Wales treat victims of domestic violence. At least four children have been killed by a parent...

Lawyers in the Family Courts – Are they worth it?

Legal aid was removed for 80% of family law cases following the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act back in 2013. This means that less people have been able to access legal advice for free in family law cases even where they have no money. Victims of...