I find it very interesting that whilst the outage of Marks & Spencer’s website due to a data hack made front line news a number of times, there has been zero mention of a website outage that is actually far more important: the Legal Aid Agency’s online portal. Both happened at very similar times. NotContinue reading “What didn’t make the news – the trouble with legal aid right now”
Category Archives: Ways of working
Monsters lurking in the shadows: managing work place stress
I don’t think I have ever come across anyone working in either law or social care that hadn’t dealt with excessive work place stress at some point in their career. And, to a certain extent, stress, responsibility and pressure are an inherent and unavoidable part of these roles. How we deal with these things isContinue reading “Monsters lurking in the shadows: managing work place stress”
An inpatient hospital stay – the gulf between the textbooks and the real world
I recently had a lengthy stay in hospital. The reason for that stay isn’t particularly important. But it provided an interesting opportunity to observe the implementation of the legal frameworks I work in, on the frontline. Let’s start with privacy Medical professionals are very keen on privacy. They talk about patient confidentiality a lot. EvenContinue reading “An inpatient hospital stay – the gulf between the textbooks and the real world”
Wishes and feelings statements: getting to know P
I am often asked by family members how the Official Solicitor and the court can make decisions about P without knowing them. More often than not, this is followed by comments about how they know P best so they should be able to make all of P’s decisions. That follow up is problematic, for aContinue reading “Wishes and feelings statements: getting to know P”
Office conversations on accessible information
I have been fortunate enough to be involved in some work about making legal information more accessible to non-legal professionals, particularly those who might have additional difficulties in understanding this information. Lawyers are traditionally quite wordy people, and there are a large number of lawyers out there who tend to speak in the way thatContinue reading “Office conversations on accessible information”
Refusal of care: when it’s not so simple
Today I want to talk about an issue that I have come across regularly in practice: individuals who are refusing care. The reason I am talking about this is that I have seen this concept misused by public authorities when this is convenient for them. I have a case at the moment where this isContinue reading “Refusal of care: when it’s not so simple”
About face: changing your position during Court of Protection proceedings part 3
This is the third post in a series about changing your mind during Court of Protection proceedings. If you’ve not read parts 1 and 2, feel free to do so. But I’ll briefly recap the scenario too. Essentially, my client was in a care home, suffering from dementia and objecting to her residence there. HerContinue reading “About face: changing your position during Court of Protection proceedings part 3”
About face: changing your position during Court of Protection proceedings – part 1
I want to talk about a relatively common occurrence that occurs during Court of Protection proceedings: changing the professional recommendations. In writing this I’ve realised I have a lot to say on this topic so I’ve broken it down into 4 parts. To start us off, I’ll set the scene. In one of my casesContinue reading “About face: changing your position during Court of Protection proceedings – part 1”
Networking as an introvert
As I mentioned, I have recently changed roles (again). I’m still in private practice doing largely legal aid work so I wasn’t expecting much of the job to change, just the people and the work environment. My current firm is much more vocal about employees’ skills and successes, though. I’m also one of the firstContinue reading “Networking as an introvert”
The lure of the easy road
Today I’m going to talk about a case that posed some interesting conundrums for me. It was one of those cases that I couldn’t decide whether it was an interesting puzzle or just a massive pain. So it’s story time people! My client was one of those people that are regularly described as ‘difficult’ andContinue reading “The lure of the easy road”