A shortage of child care solicitors has led to a rise in the use of unqualified paralegal staff to present cases on behalf of local authorities, the Gazette has learned.
Jordan Gooch, public sector consultant at recruiters Badenoch & Clark, said there has been a significant increase in the amount of child care work over the last 18 months to two years following the introduction of the Public Law Outline and the Baby P case.
‘Because of this there are more job vacancies at local authorities than there are solicitors to cover them, which has led to a rise in the use of unqualified paralegal staff,’ he added.
Gooch said local authorities were increasingly making use of powers contained in the Local Government Act 1972 to enable unqualified staff to present cases in court. ‘Because there are more jobs than there are candidates, some of our clients have to compromise,’ he said.
George Eddon, principal lawyer for North Yorkshire County Council, said: ‘I’m aware of this trend among some councils for financial reasons, but it’s a policy I’d be wary of because of the nature of the cases.’
Chris Goulden, partner at Bristol firm TLT and member of Resolution’s national children committee, said: ‘It is a very worrying trend, and one which is also happening in criminal cases, with the Crown Prosecution Service having to defend its use of non-lawyers to prosecute cases.
‘The way the Legal Services Commission is going to be financing child care cases means that there will be an increase in the use of paralegals by parents’ solicitors too,’ said Goulden.
‘It’s a concern across the board that there’s an increased use of non-qualified staff in sensitive and complex cases concerning the safety of children,’ he added.
Association of Lawyers for Children co-chair Piers Pressdee QC said: ‘Children cases should be done by people who know what they are doing and have a high level of experience. I’d be worried if inexperienced and inexpert practitioners were doing this type of work.’
However Uma Mehta, chair of the Law Society’s children law sub-committee, said the provision to grant rights of audience to unqualified staff was ‘not a problem’.
She said: ‘Local authorities don’t send just anyone to court – only those with adequate experience and under supervision. They are very experienced people doing routine stuff.
‘The wider problem is the recession and the funding cutbacks that mean legal aid firms are not taking on trainees or qualified solicitors, but people who have passed the bar course or the legal practice course, but haven’t managed to do the final bit of their training because no one will take them on,’ she said.
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