A detailed and enlightening report on the representation of parents in care proceedings was published this week by academics at Bristol University law school.

The study, by Julia Pearce and Professor Judith Masson, provides an interesting insight into the pivotal role played by lawyers in the process and the pressures under which they work.

Conducted in four court areas of England and Wales between 2008 and 2010, the study observed over 100 hearings, and included 16 case studies and 60 interviews with solicitors, barristers, judges and magistrates’ legal advisers.

It notes the collaborative and consensual way that care cases tend to be dealt with by the small nucleus of lawyers who cover the majority of such cases.

And reveals that the courts rely heavily on those lawyers involved.

‘It could be said that the progress of cases and often their outcome are effectively decided by the legal representatives rather than the court,’ the report said.

This, it explained, occurs because judges do not feel sufficiently well prepared to make decisions, they trust the lawyers who appear before them and prefer that cases proceed by agreement.

The profile of the solicitors involved in these cases shows there is a high level of specialisation: two thirds of the 46 solicitors interviewed for the study devoted 70% or more of their time to it.

More than half of the solicitors interviewed were partners in their firms and the report showed the population of solicitors handling care cases appeared to be an aging one with few younger solicitors opting for this area.

The researchers found large numbers of solicitors with 10 or more years’ experience, but few who were newly qualified.

Of those qualified for 10 or more years, 60% had more than 20 years experience.

While the level of experience is good, the demographic profile highlights an obvious concern for the future.

Other troubling signs for the future were highlighted by the mood of some of the solicitors working on care matters.

The study found the lawyers that work in this field were highly motivated by the sense of work they do and have a sense of public service and social justice, but were feeling ‘jaded and exhausted’ by the overwhelming workload pressure.

It found that the excessive demands from rising case numbers following the Baby P case were overwhelming solicitors, tipping them into a state of ‘frustration and demoralisation’.

In addition, the report found that solicitors representing parents in care cases were under ‘tremendous pressure’ due to continual changes and uncertainties in the legal aid regime, particularly following the move to fixed fees in 2007.

It said that practices adopted when this work was better remunerated were not sustainable with the ‘substantially lower fees’ that followed the move to fixed fees in 2007.

The report found that the failure of the Pubic Law Outline, introduced in 2008, to deliver shorter proceedings with fewer hearings left lawyers doing the same or more work on individual cases and taking more cases so that the work remained financially viable for their firms.

‘Firms and individual solicitors are adapting their practice, but workload pressures and financial constraints were placing them at breaking point,’ it said.

And that is before you factor in further 10% fee cuts and a new fixed fee scheme that are to be brought in.

One cannot help wondering how many of these dedicated, experienced and committed lawyers, who are already at ‘breaking point’, will be tipped over the edge by the cuts to come, and will simply stop doing the work because it is not financially viable.

And if they stop doing the work that has such life-changing consequences to those involved, how many children and parents could have to live with the consequences of cheap, inexperienced representation?