Maine - Proposed Repeal and Replacement of the Maine Bar Rules

NOTICE OF OPPORTUNITY TO COMMENT

STATE OF MAINE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT NOTICE AND OPPORTUNITY FOR COMMENT

Proposed Repeal and Replacement of the Maine Bar Rules

Comments due on or before September 12, 2014 at 4:00 p.m.


For those who are looking for a chuckle please find an opportunity to comment on the Proposed rules for the Maine Bar. The last set of rules were about as useful as nothing. Those were the rules that kept a lawyer in practice after her called in two bomb threats (his Meds were off) and numerous lawyers who were seen before the Bar and let off with a slap.

The notice may be found here:

http://www.courts.maine.gov/rules_adminorders/rules/proposed/m_bar_r_2014-7-16/m_bar_r_notice_2014-7-16.shtml

The proposed rules may be found here:

http://www.courts.maine.gov/rules_adminorders/rules/proposed/m_bar_r_2014-7-16/m_bar_r_proposed_2014-7-16.pdf


Can we expect an improvement or more of the same from the stakeholders? Your comments are welcome.

UK - Cuts to legal aid force parents to defend themselves in family court cases

Not all that long ago 43% of the parents who showed up in Family Court were representing themselves. Last year that figure rose to 58% of the parents. In the UK there is a growing concern about access to justice as this figure for self representation continues to rise. Yet in the US there is little to no public concern yet - about access to justice. The problem is far worse in many states than in the UK. 85%, 84%, 74% and so on is the percentage of parents in the US representing themselves and this figure continues to rise.

The Independent
The number of parents forced to represent themselves before the family courts jumped by 20,000 last year following the withdrawal of legal aid for almost all family cases, official figures obtained by The Independent show.

The increase means that for the first time more than half of parents - 58 per cent - went into court without a lawyer fighting their case in 2013/14. Many were mothers from poor backgrounds.

In the previous year, before legal aid changes came in, just 43 per cent of parents before the family courts were not represented by lawyers.

The Government argued that cutting legal aid to family law would mean parents solved their disputes through mediation rather than battling in court. But in fact, the new figures show there was an annual increase in the number of parents resorting to the courts for child contact and residency battles after legal aid was withdrawn for most private family law issues in April 2013.

For further reading: The Independent

National - What Would You Do if You Were A Guardian ad litem?

Imagine you are a Guardian ad litem tasked with making a recommendation on a case and you have the following to deal with:

One member has just accused the other of molesting the child of this divorcing family. You recommend that the accused has only supervised visits with this child. The Family Court Judge backs up your recommendation.

But there is a twist

You see the accused has another child with another partner. What do you do?

1. You do nothing - that child is not a party to the divorce.
2. You recommend that the accused parent can only have supervised contact with both children because that parent poses a threat to both of them.
3. You have Child Protective Services come in and determine whether or not the accused is really a threat.

Tell us what you would do - Either add a comment here or click this link which opens up in a new TAB or window.


The results will be published on Monday 7/8/2014