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Wendy Hewstone contributes to the debate on the future of Legal Aid
On 19^th March 2007 Wendy Hewstone appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live where the proposed changes to Legal Aid were discussed with Caroline Regan, Chief Executive of the Legal Services Commission (LSC). Wendy argued that although the LSC wanted to improve quality of service to the Clients, this would not be possible unless adequate funding was made available to allow firms to cover their overheads and expenses.

Wendy Hewstone interviewed on the BBC's Politics Show
On 18^th February 2007 Wendy Hewstone was interviewed on the BBC's Politics Show (see also The BBC's Politics Show page). The BBC reported:-
"40% of her (Wendy's) firm's workload is legal aid funded but she thinks they will have to scale back the amount they do. That will mean having to turn people away.
'If it is a domestic violence case we try to go to court the same day with the client to get an injunction. But if we cannot take action immediately the person could be assaulted again'"

Derek Parsons Interviewed on Radio Solent
On 7th March 2006 Derek contributed to a discussion on Radio Solent concerning the Hague Convention regarding a case where a mother had brought her children home to England from Switzerland where they had been brought up and was ordered to return them as she had breached the Convention. As a member of Reunite with many years experience in such cases, Derek was able to provide the legal background to what is a very emotive and controversial issue.

Wendy Hewstone's article in the April 2008 issue of the Legal Aid Review, published by the Legal Aid Practitioner's Group (LAPG) entitled "Shades of Grey" provided information and advice to other Solicitors together with commentary on the LSC's Key Performance Indicators:-
"[outcomes] cannot be judged in such monochrome terms as the LSC seems to require - family cases often have shades of grey"

Wendy Hewstone's article in the June 2007 issue of the Legal Aid Review, published by the Legal Aid Practitioner's Group (LAPG) entitled "Changes on the Horizon" provided an overview of some of the changes to the Legal Aid scheme in relation to Family Law and expressed concern about how these proposals would affect the provision of Legal Aid and create so-called "advice deserts" where in some regions no law firm is available to provide advice:-
"…the proposals do not seem to be complying with the stated aim [of the Legal Services Commission] of ensuring quality justice is available to all and it is likely the issue of 'advice deserts' will continue."

Wendy Hewstone's article entitled "Domestic Violence, Contact and Legal Aid" in the March 2007 Legal Aid Review, published by the Legal Aid Practitioner's Group (LAPG) highlighted concerns about the Courts allowing contact in cases where there have been allegations of violence and in particular the need for specialist lawyers and the problems over provision of Legal Aid:-
"where are these specially trained lawyers going to be found… particularly after October 2007 when the new Legal Aid changes are likely to come in?"

Wendy Hewstone's article in the December 2006 Legal Aid Review, published by the Legal Aid Practitioner's Group (LAPG) was entitled "What wouldn't we do?". It took a humorous look at some of the stranger incidents that have occurred in her 22 years as a Legal Aid lawyer but the underlying message was clear:-
"we are not fat cat lawyers but the fourth emergency service on a par health and educational providers"
"These varied and challenging cases (as described in the article) show that a small firm has been able to help disadvantaged and dispossessed people. It also shows that that each case is very different and that the 'one size fits all' fixed fees approach does not work"

In an article published in the January/February 2006 edition of Delia Venables' Internet Newsletter for Lawyers, Gordon Hewstone questioned the usefulness and necessity of Case Management Systems for conveyancing:-
"Any computer-based system is at best only as good as the people operating it. Our conveyancing is always done by a Solicitor - who (and this may come as a bit of a shock to some) can actually remember details about a case without the need of a case management system. We are not dependant on underpaid and overworked clerks inputting data, or on systems which force us along rigid and inflexible flow charts which exclude flexibility, intelligence and common sense or on the whims of monolithic IT companies who want us to bend to their concepts of workflow."
Read the full article here

Wendy Hewstone contributed to an article on Domestic Violence published in The Law Society Gazette which included the following:-
"We need more criminal prosecutions for domestic violence, which despite being as much of an assault as any other, is often treated as a lesser offence. We still have people coming to us who have been told by the police to obtain an injunction, rather than the police conducting an arrest and criminal investigation."
Read the full article here

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