Even before legal aid reforms came into force last October, many family lawyers were leaving publicly funded work behind. Dedicated lawyers taking on work for vulnerable children and families were being forced to shut their doors to cases, unable to get sufficient funding.
To find out the scale of the problem the Association of Lawyers for Children (ALC) carried out a snapshot survey at its annual conference just over a month after the reforms - which now see lawyers paid a fixed fee per case rather than by the hour - were introduced (see box).
Caroline Little, joint chair of the ALC, says: "We were quite shocked by the outcome. We knew there was movement but we were surprised by the extent and that so many experienced people are leaving."
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