Family Law Advocacy: How Barristers help the Victims of Family Failure

139 Pages·2009·0.59 MB·English

by  John Eekelaar

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FAMILY LAW ADVOCACY
The role of the law in settling family disputes has been a matter of
particular debate over the past 25 years. In keeping with the general
publicperception,themediahavebeenlargelycriticalabouttheroleof
lawyersinfamilylawmatters,sustainingagenerallackofconfidencein
the legal profession, and a more specific feeling that in family matters
lawyers aggravate conflict or even represent a female conspiracy. The
climate in which family lawyers practise in England and Wales is
thereforeaharshone.
The authors of this path-breaking study felt it was time to find out
more about the contribution of barristers in family law cases. They
thereforeembarkedonacarefulstudyof thefamilylawbar,itscharac-
teristics,whatitsmembersdoandhowtheiractivitiescontributetothe
management or resolution of family disputes. Much of the study
comprisesanin-depthexaminationof theday-to-dayactivityof mem-
bers of the family law bar through observation of individual barristers
astheyperformtheirroleinthecontextof acourthearing,
Inattemptingtoanswerquestionssuchaswhetherourfamilyjustice
system is excessively adversarial, or whether family barristers earn too
much from human unhappiness or indeed whether those working in
the front line of child protection earn enough,the authors reach some
surprisingconclusions.‘Thebarristerisbothmentorandguideforthe
client’ishowtheybegintheirconclusion;‘wehopethatwehaveshown
thatsocietyshouldvaluetheircontributionmore’ishowtheyfinish.
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Family Law Advocacy
How Barristers help the Victims of
Family Failure
Mavis Maclean
and
John Eekelaar
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Table of Contents
Chapter1:Preconceptions 1
I.Introduction 1
II.TheImportanceof Research 3
III.TheProject 9
IV.Acknowledgments 10
Chapter2:TheFamilyLawBar 11
I.Introduction 11
II.TheDemographicCharacteristicsof theFamilyLawBar 12
III.Specialisation 17
IV.RemunerationandRegulationof theFamilyLawBar 19
Chapter3:OverviewoftheBarristers’Role 31
I.Introduction 31
II.PublicLawChildrenCases 34
III.PrivateLawChildrenCases 39
IV.FinancialCases 43
Chapter4:FinancialCases 49
I.Introduction 49
II.Georgeandthe‘WorldBusinessman’ 51
III.CarolineandtheNovelist 55
IV.LouiseandtheSurpriseEnding 57
V.CharlesandtheFailingSmallBusinessman 59
VI.Graham:AFinalHearingwithLittleontheTable 65
VII.Alice’s‘Mediation’ 71
Chapter5:ChildrenCases:Contact 73
I.Introduction 73
II.JaneandtheUnrepresentedFosterParent 74
III.DavidandtheThree-YearOldwiththeShortFuse 78
IV.JonathanandtheConcernedMother 82
v
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TableofContents
Chapter6:ChildProtectionCases 91
I.Introduction 91
II.Nadia’sCaseConference 92
III.ClaudiaandtheUnderweightToddler 93
IV.Isobel’sDirectionsHearing 96
V.SarahandtheDisturbedClient 97
VI.PeterandtheFamilyof FiveChildren 101
VII.James’sMidnightBrief 104
Epilogue 117
I.CaseManagementandtheCourtSystem 117
II.MentorandGuide 118
III.ImageandReality 122
Index 125
vi
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1
Preconceptions
I. Introduction
O
UR BOOK FamilyLawyerswassubtitled,TheDivorceWorkof
Solicitors.1 The subtitle demonstrated that we were examining
onlypartofwhatfamilylawyersdo.Itdidnotcoveranyfamily
law work done by the other branch of the legal profession,the barris-
ters.Barristers,tobesure,didoccasionallyappearinthebookinwhat
couldhavebeenseenascameoroles.Theyarereferredtoasbeingused
in order to persuade clients to take a more realistic view of their case,
and so speed things up;2 or as factors leading to increased costs,3 and
onewasreportedassuggestingthequestionabletacticof implyingthat
awifecouldnotfindemploymentby‘binning’joboffersorinvitations
forinterview.4Clearlyouraccountoftheimplementationoffamilylaw
wasincompletewithoutanexaminationofthepartplayedbybarristers.
There is little research published about barristers’ work. Adam
Kramerhasrecentlywrittena‘guidetobecomingabarristerinEngland
and Wales’,5 which provides a useful description of the many types of
workundertakenbybarristers,thestepsnecessarytowardsqualification
and,interestinglyfromourperspective,shortaccountsbyyoungbarris-
tersof theirday-to-dayactivitiesoveraweek.Thisincludesanaccount
bya‘whitefemale’inherfifthyearofchambers’tenancyofherworkin
1 JEekelaar,MMacleanandSBeinart,FamilyLawyers:TheDivorceWorkofSolicitors
(Oxford,HartPublishing,2000).
2 Ibid,at172.
3 Ibid,at174,177,178.
4 Ibid,at118.
5 AKramer,BewiggedandBewildered?(Oxford,HartPublishing,2007).
1
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Preconceptions
family and prison law,6 which will have a strong resonance with the
descriptionsweofferinthisbook.Howeverthebookmakesnoclaimto
beanaccountof research.
John Morison and Philip Leith’s account of ‘the barrister’s world’,
published over 15 years ago,7 is, however, a substantial research study.
The study was based on interviews with barristers, though unfortu-
nately it is not revealed how the barristers were selected,or indeed the
numberwhowereinterviewed.However,itdidseemtoincludebarris-
ters of different levels of experience, in both civil and criminal law
practices.The main thrust of the findings was that barristers regarded
themselvesas‘persuaders’—whetherof thepartiestheywererepresent-
ing, the opposing parties, or the courts—rather than as legal oracles,
seekingoutlegaltruthsandapplyingthemtofacts.Thisledtheauthors
toquestionwhetheracademicwritersof textbookswhichattemptedto
articulate ‘correct’ legal propositions represented the ‘reality’ of law.8
Rather,theyconcludedthat‘legalknowledge’wasa‘process’,constituted
by‘ahostof conflictingbeliefsandpractices’whichwere‘strategicand
negotiable rather than fixed and static’.9Whether it is helpful to repre-
sentthewaylawyersgrindouttheirperceptionsofthelawandthefacts
inconcretecasesasa‘morereal’versionofthelawthananalysisoflegal
propositionscouldbedebated.Thefactthatpeopledoargueaboutthe
correctness of legal propositions demonstrates that there is a kind of
reality which can be comprehended in this discourse, even though it
might be one which is constructed by the protagonists themselves.10
One might say the same of aesthetic principles,except that for law the
propositions can in certain circumstances affect practical decision-
making, and thereby affect people’s lives, whereas an aesthetic theory
mayonlyaffectthenatureof aworkof artoritsperformance.11
6 Kramer,ibid,at54–61.
7 JMorisonandPLeith,TheBarrister’sWorldandtheNatureofLaw(MiltonKeynes,
OpenUniversity,1992).
8 Ibid,at182.
9 Ibid,at195.
10 ThispointhasbeenstronglyassociatedwithRDworkin:seeLaw’sEmpire(London,
FontanaPress,1986)ch1.
11 Nordoesitseemrighttoconcludethattheirevidenceofthewaybarristerswork
refutespositivism,andparticularlytheworkofHerbertHart,whichisstrangelydismissed
as‘middle-class’(at174),asifthetheorycouldnothavebeenpropoundedbyorperhaps
becomprehendedbyamemberofthearistocracyortheworkingclass.Butthereisample
spacewithinHart’sexpositionofthe‘opentexture’oflawandtheroleofpredictionto
embracethepracticesofbarristersasexplainedbyMorisonandLeith,andJosephRaz’s
laterinsistenceofthenecessityforjudicialdecisiontoprovideauthoritativedetermina-
tionsoflawseemsquiteuntouchedbyit.
2
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The Importance of Research
But whatever view one takes of Morison and Leith’s conclusions
aboutthe‘nature’oflaw,thereisnodoubtthattheyweredescribingan
aspectof socialrealitywhichcouldbesaidtofallwithinthelegal‘field’
or‘domain’.They saw barristers as‘fully social individual(s) who must
satisfy all sorts of competing demands,while at the same time carving
out a living from a not particularly welcoming environment’.12 In
advisory work, they wrote, the barrister knows that a client wants a
solution to his or her problem, and this means appreciating a large
number of factors, including, crucially, costs.13 They described how
barristers assess the likely success of a case by obtaining a‘feel’for its
merits(thatis,howstrongitisonthefactsandhowfaritisconsistent
withmoralfeeling)andmakingajudgmentofthelaw.Ifthetwopoint
inthesamedirection,thechancesaregood.Ifthemeritsarepoor,there
isalwaystheriskof losing,evenif thelawlooksfavourable.If bothlaw
and merits point against the client,it is a‘no hoper’.In engaging with
opposing counsel, barristers try to do the best for their client. This
might mean ‘buying off’ a case with poor chance of success (that is,
acceptingalowoffer,whichsaveseveryonethecostsoffurtherconflict).
Barristers try to discover as much as they can of the character of
opposingcounsel,sincethisishelpfulinnegotiationstrategy.Theyhave
aninterestinbeing‘fair’and‘straightforward’,becausesomeonewitha
reputation for playing‘dirty’will find negotiation much harder. Good
knowledgeof procedureisveryhelpfulinnegotiation,sincemuchof it
isconductedunderconstraintsof time,whichisaninherentinhibition
against perfect justice.14 There are seldom conflicts over points of law,
requiring legal research. Rather, opposing counsel tend to operate
withinanagreedlegalframeworkandaccordingtobroadlyunderstood
principles.15 In this way, Morison and Leith’s work gave a fascinating
insightintoanimportantaspectoftheexperiencemanypeoplehaveof
thelegalsystem,andtherefore,of thelaw.
II. The Importance of Research
The role of the law in settling family disputes has been a matter of
particulardebateoverthepast25years.In1982the32ndReportofthe
12 MorisonandLeith,aboven7,at19.
13 Ibid,at106.
14 Ibid,at123–31.
15 Ibid,at89–99.
3
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