But it is also found in the difficulty in drafting complex family court documents, particularly the final financial settlement. This is found in the many litigants in person now before the family courts. The consequence of the near total withdrawal of legal aid from private family law proceedings in 2013 has effectively disenfranchised many people from access to legal representation and justice. It was identified by the judge in his judgment (clause 15 and numbers in this note relate to the judgment itself). The case name is JK v MK EWFC 2 Article continues below.īefore dealing with these issues, it is crucial to understand why there is the demand for this service.
#JUDICIAL CONSENT LAW PRO#
The Queen’s Proctor was represented by Simon Murray and amicable was represented by Vikram Sachdeva QC, and by David Hodson OBE at T he International Family Law Group LLP which acted pro bono, to support the firm’s commitment to access to justice, to digital innovation and to the enterprising and important work of amicable. Justice Mostyn was to approve their order and release them from further attendance at the hearing. Frustratingly for the couple, this was the case which went to the High Court at the hearing on 19 December 2019. They approached amicable for the joint preparation. A young couple married in August 2015 with no children and separated in December 2017 with no capital assets and each having their own income and who wanted a simple clean break financial order. The actual case was the least contentious and the most obvious for joint drafting. Justice Moor who listed the matter for a review, inviting the Queen’s Proctor to intervene.
However, in summer 2019 a judge of the Bury St Edmunds Regional Centre had queried the joint drafting, with concerns about potential conflict-of-interest. It provides top-quality information and other services for those going through separation and divorce through its website amicable.io It has a sophisticated, computer driven process for the preparation of court forms, overseen by non-practicing certificate solicitors previously working in specialist London firms. Formed by Kate Daly and Pip Wilson in 2015, it had before this litigation already prepared over 200 financial consent orders, assisted in over 1000 divorces and been contacted by over 5000 people, obtaining the approval of courts around the country and SRA endorsement for their model. BackgroundĪmicable is one of the country’s leading online family law services, helping couples jointly with their divorce, assisting in negotiating financial settlements and then drafting financial consent orders. Many clients will now expect this service to be available to them. It should produce saving of costs and less contentiousness and disputes. Practice by lawyers and the courts will change. It will very probably mean more joint applications for family court consent orders. It is a crucial judgement for the legal profession, online service providers, and family justice. It looks ahead to when this process will be a matter for drafting by artificial intelligence. The judgment resoundingly confirms that joint drafting of consent orders is possible and indeed necessary to provide access to justice. In any event could it be undertaken by non-lawyers if it was a reserved activity for solicitors? This was referred to the High Court for a Declaration. Previously there had been uncertainty whether it was possible due to conflict-of-interest. There has been demand for lawyers, mediators and others to be able to act for both parties in this drafting process. He has further held that doing so is neither a reserved legal activity nor a reserved instrument activity and therefore not a breach of the Legal Services Act.įinancial orders in the family court are very complex, technically precise and difficult to draft by non-lawyers.
In a judgment on 20 January 2020, Mr Justice Mostyn has given a Declaration that there is no conflict-of-interest for a leading online service to act for both parties in the drafting of a financial consent order under the terms of its business model. The green light has now been given to lawyers and others to act for both parties in drafting consensual family court documents.