I am going to talk today about witness statements, but a lot of these principles will apply to any formal report that is used to evidence reasoning such as assessments for Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, social circumstances reports etc. This is largely aimed at social care professionals, because family members and other ‘lay people’ willContinue reading “Tips for statement writing: What lawyers really think when they read a statement”
Category Archives: court of protection
When lawyers really just need to do better
I have picked up a case recently in the Court of Protection, representing a family member of P. It is interesting, and when I say interesting you can read frustrating, time-consuming and way more complicated that it needs to be. The difficulty has nothing to do with P, and a lot to do with P’sContinue reading “When lawyers really just need to do better”
Much ado about financial deputies
I rarely delve into financial aspects of the MCA, partly because it comes up very rarely in my role, and partly because cases of interest are so infrequent. But I read this on a few weeks ago, and it’s been playing on my mind. The case of Sunil Kambli v Public Guardian and others [2021]Continue reading “Much ado about financial deputies”
Reflections on my first in person client visit
I am aware that most of you reading this will be social care practitioners in one capacity or the other, so you will probably read this and chuckle. But I imagine how I felt during my first client visit is a lot like how non-lawyers feel the first time they are asked to come toContinue reading “Reflections on my first in person client visit”
I’ve been notified about s21A proceedings, what do I do?
This is a question I get asked a lot, so I will try to talk you through the process as well as I can, both for professionals and family members. If you don’t know what s21A proceedings are, don’t worry, not many people do. They are very specialised proceedings in the Court of Protection broughtContinue reading “I’ve been notified about s21A proceedings, what do I do?”
Social care law in the spotlight: what if Britney Spears’ conservatorship was in the English courts…
I think now is a very interesting time to be an adult social care lawyer (or community care lawyer as it is referred to at my new place of work). We tend to slip by under the radar and it’s certainly not a specialism that attracts attention the way criminal law does, for example. ButContinue reading “Social care law in the spotlight: what if Britney Spears’ conservatorship was in the English courts…”
An example of when locking the door can be a sign of something much more troubling
I spoke before about why steps that family members take with good intentions can actually be a significant issue for social care practitioners to navigate. Shortly afterwards a judgement was published which demonstrated that issue very well for me. And it’s not that every instance of these measures always does turn out to be aContinue reading “An example of when locking the door can be a sign of something much more troubling”
Mental Capacity Act and covid-19 vaccination: the court’s approach so far
There have, to my knowledge, been 2 reported cases on this issue so far: E (Vaccine) [2021] EWCOP 7 and SD v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea [2021] EWCOP 14 Initially, I wasn’t planning on talking about this subject. Primarily because for those of us in local authority this is not really high onContinue reading “Mental Capacity Act and covid-19 vaccination: the court’s approach so far”
DP v Hillingdon and the issue that may or may not be
If you practice in this area of law, or work with people who do, you’ll have heard of this case, because it has set a lot of hares running in a number of cases. If you don’t, then you might not have given this case much thought unless your local authority legal team sends bulletinsContinue reading “DP v Hillingdon and the issue that may or may not be”
Social care and health care joint working arrangements – what can go wrong
This post discusses a case example from my practice, suitably anonymised, where the local authority and NHS Clinical Commissioning Group should be working together to support a hospital discharge for an incapacitated adult, but that, to date, hasn’t quite worked out. Safety warning: I do work for the local authority here, so I’ll try toContinue reading “Social care and health care joint working arrangements – what can go wrong”