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”
Tag Archives: Basics
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”
Will the hearing be vacated? Too many variables to factor in
I’m regularly asked if hearings are going to go ahead many weeks before that hearing is listed. And I’m often surprised that people don’t understand why it is too soon to give any answer that isn’t “yes”. So I’m going to explore that a bit. For anyone that is regularly involved in Court of ProtectionContinue reading “Will the hearing be vacated? Too many variables to factor in”
Reflections on language use: “deemed to have capacity”
This is probably me just being a little pedantic. But I have an issue with being told people are “deemed” to have capacity. Even more so they are “deemed” to lack capacity I think it’s mainly due to the lack of precision in the term “deem”. The dictionary definition of “deem” is “to have anContinue reading “Reflections on language use: “deemed to have capacity””
I don’t think you really thought this through. Proceedings so ill-conceived it’s painful
I am prone to overthinking, so I tend to spend a lot of time thinking about what other parties to any particular case might be thinking and planning, identifying what advice I might give them, and strategizing accordingly. But this case really has me stumped. So today’s post is based on a current case ofContinue reading “I don’t think you really thought this through. Proceedings so ill-conceived it’s painful”
Making the public body’s point for them: what not to do as a family member in the Court of Protection – part 2
In my last post, I gave an example of S and T. S is the subject of Court of Protection proceedings and T, her mother, does not agree with the decisions being made by professionals and wants S to move to a different placement. In that scenario, T’s behaviour gave the judge little option butContinue reading “Making the public body’s point for them: what not to do as a family member in the Court of Protection – part 2”
Discussing care plans within court proceedings: part 1 – the broad brush
I am surprised by how often with my job I find myself in a situation where everyone round the table has a different idea of what the court’s role is when discussing care planning. I am talking predominantly about cases where there is some kind of dispute about a care plan, for example, where thereContinue reading “Discussing care plans within court proceedings: part 1 – the broad brush”
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”
Reflections on informed consent
This is an issue I’ve been thinking about recently. I’ve had some health issues of my own which have resulted in more interactions with medical professionals than I’d like. No offence is intended to medical professionals and I’m glad they’re there, it’s just that I very much prefer my life when I don’t need toContinue reading “Reflections on informed consent”