Law Society launches family-law code of practice

In her final official event as chair of the Law Society Family and Child Law Committee, Siún Hurley (O’Donovan, Murphy & Partners LLP) welcomed attendees to the launch of the fifth edition of the code of practice for family lawyers.

“Civil-society groups are tireless advocates for civil-law reform and holding government accountable,” she said (8 October).

Siún Hurley (small picture) referenced the campaign for reform of civil legal aid, in particular the family-law private-practitioner scheme, and the support received from the Bar.

“The family-law private-practitioner scheme is such an important one for the vulnerable and needy in terms of their right to access justice,” the outgoing chair said.

The allocation of €14.5 million to the civil legal aid programme in the budget is “a good news story” and, although it remains unclear how much will go to the private-practitioner scheme, Siún Hurley expressed the hope that it would be enough to encourage existing practitioners to remain, and new ones to join.

The fifth edition of the code of practice was introduced by Brendan Dillon, who commended the work of his colleagues on the ethics sub-committee, Orlagh Sharkey and Annette Sheehan, and all other contributors.

Exponential legislative change

Dillon said that in the nine years since the previous edition was authored by Donagh McGowan and his team, there had been a period of exponential legislative change and increased legal complexity.

Key statutory and regulatory developments integrated into the updated text include the Legal Services Regulation Act (LSRA), the Children and Family Relationships Act, the Domestic Violence Act, the Family Law Act 2019, and recent judicial guidelines on expert reports and the voice of the child.

Family-law practitioners faced growing pressures that included delays, the stress of dealing with clients in highly difficult personal circumstances, and an escalation in complaints to the Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA), Dillon said.

The code was intended as a practical guide, rather than a rulebook, Dillon continued, with respect for clients, colleagues, counsel, court staff, and the judiciary remaining paramount.

Aggressive wording

He also emphasised that inter-solicitor correspondence must remain professional, as aggressive wording passed on to clients can cause significant, avoidable stress.

Family-law practitioners deal with clients “who are going through the worst of times”.

Noting that divorce had been classified as the second-worst experience after death, Dillon said: “I would even challenge that because in death there's rarely blame, and unfortunately, in the work, we do there's an awful lot of blame.”

However, Brendan Dillon also warned against practitioners becoming their clients’ “cheerleaders”, rather than pushing them to take the steps needed to progress proceedings.

Influence over behaviour

Solicitors could underestimate the influence they have over clients’ behaviour during what is often an extremely difficult period in their lives.

Formally launching the code, retired Supreme Court Judge Marie Baker reiterated the importance of respectful dealings and challenged the perception that family law is “all about holding hands and anyone can do it”.

As a judge, she said, she did not have many family-law cases but, as a practitioner, she had many.

“The one thing that I learned,” she said, “was that the agreement that you reach with the other side, between your client and your client's opposite number, has to be fair and sustainable.”

There is no point in “cranky letters”, she said, and “no point in shouting because eventually you're going to have to negotiate.

“And anyway,” she added, “judges don't like shouting.”

Not always respected

The retired judge went on to say that “family lawyers are not always respected by the system.”

She added: “If you look at the level of complexity in the statutes, in the evidence, in the financial information, and in the overlay that comes from the constitution, you realise that this is one of the most complex areas of law”. 

“The fact that the Law Society has developed this code means that you show how seriously you are taking that work.”

The updated booklet includes new sections addressing the integration of AI in legal practice.

Baker advised practitioners to maintain an “intelligent use of AI and a degree of compliance use, given the current practice direction.”

Discussing an experiment in which she had taken part, Judge Baker said that four platforms had generated flawed extradition judgments.

AI ‘designed to please’

The judge warned that because these tools were linguistically polished and “designed to please”, they created an illusion of rigorous legal analysis that could inadvertently cause practitioners to stop thinking critically.

She concluded by congratulating the committee on its work and saying that her main message was about the importance of respect for and between “both sides of the profession”.