The good the bad and the ugly of my day at the Family Court of WA

 

Yesterday was a day of both positives and negatives. 

I met with a family lawyer who is new to Perth and went in to observe a few cases in The Family Court of WA.

I guess at this stage, some of you will be wondering what the positives were!

 

The Good: Meeting with The Online Family Lawyer

Shaya Lewis-Dermody is The Online Family Lawyer and the principal of The Family Law Project, with over 12 years’ experience in family law.

Shaya has a thriving practice in South Australia and has recently also started practising in Perth.

It was great to spend time with her discussing how we might work together with others we know to make the family law experience more efficient and affordable and to improve the overall experience for families facing one of the most stressful times of their life.

One of the initiatives The Family Law Project has implemented to make family law more accessible is a “live chat” on their website. This service enables a person to have questions answered quickly, at a fair price and at a time that is convenient for them.

Shaya also offers the first client consultation for free. She feels it’s important for people to shop around and feel comfortable with the lawyer they choose to engage.

She also owns a pug, called Philip, and he’s adorable! I usually warm to a dog lover. The time flew by as we chatted over coffee. I'm pleased to have found another family lawyer I can confidently refer to, and I'm looking forward to working with her in the future.

 

The Bad:

We spent the morning observing several matters before two different magistrates in the Family Court of WA  ... disappointing, frustrating, and inefficient are some of the words that sprang to my mind. No offence to Philip, but some of it was a 'dog's breakfast'.

Here, in no particular order, are my general observations, both positive and negative:

  • The magistrates were both incredibly patient, quietly spoken and seemingly unflappable. 

  • About one-third of appearances, both clients and lawyers were by phone.

  • The best interests of the child are not being served, at least not with any urgency.

    • Case in point: a very young child was living with the mother (by order of the court). The mother committed a violent crime, she stabbed someone and ended up in jail. The father was in court seeking a variation to the orders for more time with the child.  The child was represented by an Independent Children's Lawyer. During the discussion about the mother's predicament, at no point did anyone, the ICL, the lawyer or the magistrate, ask who was looking after the child in the mother's absence. The magistrate was not able to make any variation to the orders as the father's lawyer had not filed the application appropriately. As a last minute request, an afterthought when prompted by his client, the Father's lawyer asked the magistrate to set aside the existing orders and return the child to the father. For that to happen, an application would be necessary. The lawyer then asked the magistrate to explain to him what the procedure was for doing so.  Really? Yes!  He was not a young junior lawyer. He was representing a Perth law firm. Presumably, he should know procedure as part of the service he was providing to his client. I understood that his fees were paid by Legal Aid, but surely, the standard of service delivered should be of a higher level of competency, whether the client is paying privately or not.

  • It wasn't just the one disorganised lawyer. Many of the lawyers seemed to be jumbled and underprepared.  I’m not talking about duty lawyers who just picked up the files that morning but lawyers who had clearly been representing the client for some time.  There were several instances of documents submitted through the wrong channels, past deadline, without service to the other party, after office hours the night before, or not at all.

  • Lawyers frequently admitted they hadn't replied to correspondence received from their "learned friend" representing the other party or provided requested information to them by the due date but in some cases, they'd 'had a quick chat about it outside the courtroom' that morning.

  • One respondent's lawyer was on holidays so for this appearance, he was on his own. The magistrate was again patient and gentle in his guidance so as the client didn't reveal the contents of the email his lawyer had sent him just before he was scheduled to appear.

  • The lag times before the next lot of documents are to be filed, reports obtained or an appearance back in court can be scheduled, are frustratingly long. Remember that urgent parenting case where the mother was in jail - it will be over a month until the next appearance and July 31st for another parenting case where the mother had moved interstate with the child. That's over 4 months the father is waiting for improved access to his daughter.

  • The family consultant who is in WA courtrooms for all cases involving parenting matters and able to advise the magistrate in the direction of orders to ensure the well-being of the family makes a highly valuable contribution to proceedings

  • Random drug testing for parents was ordered in over half of the parenting cases. One shaven headed father was ordered to grow and keep his hair at a length of 3cm or longer.

  • There was only one case which was concluded - an uncontested paternal parentage matter.

  • Both of the magistrates were quick to direct the parties to apply for Legal Aid funding to appoint an Independent Children's Lawyer. All bar one of the parenting cases had, or were assigned an ICL. One magistrate said that "Legal Aid is very efficient but they have to handle a high volume of requests". Is there any wonder that Legal Aid is under the pump when the same magistrate asks for a submission to be made to fund an ICL in a case where the parents are in continual contact with each other, the father is spending unsupervised time and is in regular communication with the children and the mother has been willing to be flexible with the access arrangements around the father's work commitments?

  • There is a shortage and therefore very long wait times for Independent Expert Witnesses to be assigned in parenting matters.

  • The set up in the waiting area is well thought out as the partitioning provides some measure of privacy for client and lawyer and to shield one party from the direct line of view of the other. In many courts, there is nowhere to hide and you sit in full view of your ex until it is your time to appear.

 

The ugly:

That's what you're going to be if you mess with the Judicial Officers. They see all and they are not taking any nonsense from anyone. No note taking. Phones off. You've been warned!

 

Just a bad day?

Perhaps it was just a bad day yesterday. I doubt it.

I will acknowledge I observed only a small sample.

I'm also aware that there's back story in these matters included in Affidavits and reports presented to the magistrates that casual observers are not privy to. Lawyers who've been in the game for a while probably have a feel for where best to apply their time and energy.

And, I know most lawyers are working hard, diligently and with a fair measure of skill to keep their clients out of court and to represent them well when family court is the best option.

I don't expect this article to be a popular opinion in some circles but overall, I came away with a sense that the people represented by lawyers in the matters we observed were not getting good value for their money.

If the fees were funded by Legal Aid, which they appeared to be in the majority of cases, as a taxpayer I'm unimpressed with the quality of service my money is providing. Things are taking too long to progress, especially in the parenting matters where there are children, and parents, left hanging in potentially high-risk situations.

From the bottom of my heart, my advice is 'do all you can to stay out of the Family Court'.  

I don't know what the answer is but there has to be a better way and I am on a mission to find it.

 

Christine Weston Divorce Resource Split Kit

Written by Christine Weston
Published by Divorce Resource

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