November 2015 Newsletter

The November 2015 edition of our Newsletter, New Court News, is now available.

To download your copy, just click the link below:

New Court Chambers eNewsletter November 2015

This edition includes the following articles:

  • New Court News by Robert Wilkinson
  • Dr Giuseppe Calà - New Heads of Chambers Giles Bain and Chris Poole pay tribute to outgoing Head of Chambers Giuseppe Calà, who hands over the Headship of chambers after 11 years
  • The Hidden Cost of Court Interpreters by Kathryn Blair
  • Saarland and Gohil: Opening the Floodgates? by Sally Jackson

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Chambers & Partners 2016

We are delighted that New Court Chambers has been ranked in Band 3 as a leading Family/Children set in the latest edition of the Chambers & Partners directory.

Christopher Poole is again ranked in Band 2 whilst Giles Bain is elevated from Band 3 to Band 2. Sally Jackson is ranked for the first time in Band 4.


THE SET

"New Court Chambers is predominantly a children law chambers dealing with private and public law issues. Its members are experienced at dealing with all parties related to children cases, but also have expertise in matrimonial finance issues."


CLIENT SERVICE

"The clerking service I have experienced has been good. They have been very helpful in scheduling conferences and trying to ensure that counsel is available consistently." Paul Bloomfield is the senior clerk.


CHRISTOPHER POOLE

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"An experienced practitioner specialising in public law children work. He frequently represents local authorities in the most serious cases of alleged abuse."

Strengths: "He is extremely capable and has a lovely manner with clients and solicitors. He really relates to the case and takes the detail on board. A pleasure to work with, he has the client's interests at heart and acts really well on their behalf." 


GILES BAIN

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"Known to his peers as someone you can rely on to achieve a sensible and fair outcome. He is "trusted by the profession" for his work on public law children issues on behalf of local authorities, children and family members."

Strengths: "He is hard-working, incredibly likeable and fair. Not only is he a good advocate, but he just gives confidence that what he's saying is fair and measured and balanced."


SALLY JACKSON

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"She maintains a broad practice across public and private children work, and also handles financial matters. Market sources are quick to praise her work ethic, approachability and responsiveness."

Strengths: "She can grasp detail really quickly and she's really personable." "She is a barrister you can have confidence in who will do her best to try and achieve the outcome you want."

 


Giles Bain and Chris Poole Announced as Joint Heads of Chambers

After 11 years of dedicated service to chambers, Dr Giuseppe Calà is handing over the position of Head of Chambers.  For the first time in Chambers’ history we now have joint heads in Giles Bain and Christopher Poole.

Dr Calà is the longest standing member of New Court, having been with Chambers for over 30 years.  During this time Dr Calà has been the link between the barristers here in London and the advocates over in Italy.

Dr Calà remains a valued member of chambers and is in the process of developing and heading the NCC international annex here in London.

Paying tribute to ‘GC', as he is affectionately known, Christopher Poole said “he is a hard act to follow and his continued guidance and support will be invaluable”. Giles Bain expressed his gratitude for the leadership provided by GC and his considerable contribution to New Court.

The new joint heads are both former pupils of New Court.  Giles, called in 1993, has a few years’ experience on Christopher, called in 1996.

Giles and Christopher said;

“We see a very positive future for NCC. We have a vibrant team of barristers, complimented recently by our new tenants, Anna Hefford, Kathryn Blair and Katherine Couper.  We have the loyalty of many long-standing professional clients and we have the support of a dedicated clerks room.  It is an honour and privilege to take on the Headship of NCC and we look forward to the challenges and opportunities to come”.


Congratulations To Our Newest Tenants

Following successful completion of their pupillages, we are delighted that Kathryn Blair and Katherine Couper have both accepted offers of tenancy with chambers commencing in October.


Anna Hefford Rejoins Chambers

We are pleased to welcome back Anna Hefford as a tenant in chambers from 5 October 2015.

Anna originally joined chambers in 2009 and soon became a valued member of the family team, specialising in chambers' core practice areas of public and private law children. Anna will be very well known to our private and Local Authority instructing solicitors having developed her practice over 5 years with us. We are delighted that Anna is rejoining us.

 


Translation Of Documents In Care Proceedings

By Sarah Nuttall

The argument about who should bear the costs of translating documents in care proceedings is a relatively common one. I’ve learned over the last few years in the South West and London that different areas have different approaches – in some, the local authority is expected to meet all the costs of translating documents, and in others the cost is met by that party’s legal aid certificate.

Whilst the case of Re: L (A Child) (Procedure: Bundles: Translation) [2015] EWHC 15 attracted much attention (and was a feature of one of my previous blog posts), what many overlooked was the guidance given by the President in relation to the procedures that should be adopted in respect of documents where there is a non-English speaking party. This was, in fact, the original reason that those proceedings were referred to the President, the Legal Aid Agency having refused to meet the full costs of translating court documents. The principles set out in Re L were referred to in the more recent case of Suffolk County Council v (1) Mother (2) Father (3) A Child when a dispute arose between the parties as to who should meet the costs of translating documents, or if the costs should be shared.

These two cases provide the following guidance:

  • Not all documents need to be translated. It is for the non-English speaking party’s solicitor to extract or summarise what their client needs to know in order to understand the case against them and to give instructions;
  • In determining what should be extracted or summarised, it is what information is “necessary”, with “necessary” to be defined in Re: H-L (A Child) (Care Proceedings: Expert Evidence) [2013] EWCA Civ 655;
  • Judges must be astute to ensure that what they say is necessary to be translate really is necessary;
  • It is right that the local authority should provide and bear the costs of translated documents pre-proceedings and at the point of proceedings being issued. This is because of the urgency of the situation and the fact that at this time, non-English speaking parties will not necessarily have a full public funding certificate in order for the costs of translations to be met;

After proceedings were issued, solicitors instructed and a public funding certificate in place, the costs of translating extracts or summaries should be met by the party who requires the documents to be translated; this is not the local authority once proceedings have been issued.

 


August 2015 Newsletter

The August 2015 edition of the chambers e-Newsletter, ‘New Court News’, is now available.

To download your copy, just click the link below:

New Court Chambers eNewsletter August 2015

This edition includes the following articles:

To subscribe to our e-Newsletter and receive a copy by email, just fill in your details here.


Divided We Fall

The FLBA and Bar Council recently wrote to the Ministry of Justice about concerns around increasing numbers of solicitors undertaking their own advocacy in family proceedings.

Matthew Richardson looks at whether they were right in this article in the Law Gazette.


Court Closure Consultation

By Robert Wilkinson

The government has opened a consultation on its proposal to close down 91 courts and tribunals throughout England and Wales.

The government claims the identified courts are underused, often operating at around 50% of their capacity, and there is the potential to save the taxpayer £500million by making the proposed closures.

Insofar as family work in London and the South-East is concerned, the courts facing threat of closure are:

  • Bow County Court
  • Aylesbury Family Court
  • Bedford Family and County Court
  • Dover Magistrates Court
  • St Albans County Court

Many of these courts have already had their family work substantially reduced, and the impact of further closures will be the focus of the consultation.

For full details of the consultation process, and to participate, you can download the consultation paper, click here: Court Closure Consultation.

 


Controversial Judgment On Physical Chastisement

By Katherine Couper

Pauffley J has delivered a controversial judgment about physical chastisement of children within communities ‘newly arrived in this country.’

The proceedings concern a 7 year old boy, ‘A’.   A’s parents met and were married in India in 2005. They travelled to England in 2006 where A was born. The marriage broke down and divorce proceedings were issued in early 2013. The mother claimed that the marriage was ‘horrible, very scary and not happy’ and that she was regularly beaten. The father denied he had ever been violent.

Between April 2013 and July 2014 the mother returned to India, under the belief that the father would follow with A. However the father instead remained in UK with A. A short time after the mother’s return, in October 2014, there was an incident between the parents in A’s presence which resulted in the father’s arrest for common assault.  Immediately following this incident, the father issued proceedings seeking the return of A to his care and various orders to prevent the mother from taking A abroad.f

The short judgment, delivered after a 4 day fact-finding, focuses primarily on the many allegations of physical violence perpetrated by the father against the mother. The Judge accepted the mother’s account of the various incidents of serious violence, and found that violence was a feature of their marriage.

 

However, the hearing also considered allegations of physical assault made by A against his father. In ABE, A described incidents where his father had hit him with a belt on his back and leg. He answered affirmatively to police questions about whether it hurt, whether it left marks and whether the marks ‘went quite quickly’. The mother said that she had seen the father slap A twice and there had been occasions when he had been pushed and shouted at.

The father denied ever striking A with a belt, but acknowledged a ‘slap or a tap’. The father clarified this as something not intended to hurt A badly, but instead intended to ‘keep him disciplined.’

Pauffley J found as follows:

“I do not believe there was punitively harsh treatment of A of the kind that would merit the term physical abuse. Proper allowance must be made for what is, almost certainly, a different cultural context. Within many communities newly arrived in this country, children are slapped and hit for misbehaviour in a way which at first excites the interest of child protection professionals. In this instance, and on the basis of his ABE interview, A did not appear to have suffered more than sadness and transient pain from what was done to him.”

The full the judgment is reported as Re A (A child: Wardship: Fact Finding: Domestic Violence) [2015] EWHC 1598 (Fam).