Evidence submitted by Sarah Palmer, The
Children's Legal Practice Ltd (LAR 67)
We would be grateful if you could accept this
letter as our response to the Carter Review and also the subsequent
consultation documentation issued by the Legal Services Commission
entitled "Legal Aid : A sustainable future".
We have had the opportunity of seeing the response
submitted by the Child Law Partnership who are a firm of solicitors
based in Guildford.
We confirm that we endorse everything that they
have said in relation to the impact of the Carter proposals both
on this area of the law generally and also on their business.
We are a two director company, based in Fareham
in Hampshire specialising in children's work. Both directors are
members of the Law Society's Children's Panel and the majority
of our total income comes from legally aided public law care proceedings.
We employ one solicitor, one paralegal and two
secretaries.
We believe that our business is run as a lean
and efficient model and we are committed to using IT to enable
us to deliver a service in an effective and efficient way.
The Children's Legal Practice Limited was set
up in July 2004 following the decision of our previous firm Blake
Lapthorn Linnell to discontinue publicly funded work.
Although we had the opportunity to remain with
Blake Lapthorn Linnell we made the decision to set up our own
practice to enable us to continue providing a service to publicly
funded clients involved in care proceedings. We do work throughout
Hampshire and also do a considerable amount of work in West Sussex
due to the lack of experienced panel solicitors available to undertake
this work.
We have no doubt that if the proposals are implemented
in April 2007 as detailed in the Legal Services Commission consultation
document that this will have a significant impact on the availability
of experienced panel solicitors to undertake this work on behalf
of those clients most in need of experienced representation.
We endorse everything that has been said by
the Child Law Partnership in relation to the impact of implementing
these proposals.
October 2006
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