Colby Beecroft Profile

Colby Beecroft

Family Team Paralegal

Suffolk Law Centre

Tel: 01473 408 111 Fax: 08723529201 web: www.iscre.org.uk

ISCRE 46a St Matthews St. Ipswich Suffolk IP1 3EP

Suffolk & North Essex Law Society

After completing my undergraduate law degree and going into my Masters of Law, I was looking for employment at an organisation that shared my concern for human rights. When I landed a job at Suffolk Law Centre, I knew I had found a place where my academic knowledge and personal passion for justice could be put to use in a team of likeminded professionals. As both my undergraduate and masters dissertations focused on issues surrounding domestic abuse and equal marriage within UK law, I knew my position within the family team would be well suited.

I started in the Family Team in November of 2021 and have since worked under the ‘Legal Support for Litigants in Person’ project, (LSLiP) Part of a local, regional and national programme overseen by the Access To Justice Foundation and funded by the Ministry of Justice under their ‘Legal Action Plan,’ which aims to put in place strategies which aid litigants in person to resolve their legal issues at the earliest opportunity. In Family, the two main groups of clients we see are: those who are seeking assistance in securing legal aid and a lawyer and those who do not qualify for legal aid who cannot afford legal advice and representation. With the rise in domestic abuse throughout the pandemic and the setbacks the family court have faced as a result of Covid-19, Suffolk Law Centre has seen a significant rise in family law enquiries.

Our work under the project falls into three main categories: triaging, casework and our volunteer run Family Support Clinic service. Much of our initial contact with clients involves identifying whether we can assist them or triaging them to the appropriate service or agency. In this sense, we act as an educational tool for clients to discover what their next best steps are and where they can be best supported to take them. We have built up an extraordinary external support network, involving many organisations within the charitable and statutory sector – when we cannot help, we try to refer clients where their needs can be best met. We are able to assist clients in making court applications, preparing statements and preparing for hearings in child contact issues. We also host a Family Support Clinic twice a month, which currently is provided by our wonderful volunteers - a retired solicitor and barrister, who offer one hour advice sessions to our clients. The opportunity for some of our clients to be provided with this particular service is vital to those who cannot afford a solicitor. Going through family court proceedings is often highly emotive and having a legal professional’s input can significantly ease a litigant in person’s anxieties, not to mention potentially improving their position within their proceedings. Although we cannot currently represent clients in court, the offer of

6 www.snels.org.uk

(Suffolk Law Advice Clinics & Tackling Discrimination in the East)

education and advice throughout the lead up to court hearings proves invaluable help to clients who have no other means of securing this support.

Clients who require further assistance following their Family Support Clinic appointment, can usually be helped through our casework service. The needs of casework clients can vary greatly: some require short-term assistance, for example those needing help with statements for court, while others require a long-term support service if their proceedings prove to be considerably complex. These clients can range from those who are seeking contact with an estranged child, domestic abuse survivors who lack the evidence needed to qualify for legal aid and family members who do not have parental responsibility and are seeking Special Guardianship or Child Arrangement orders. As a person who is fairly new to family law, I find it a pleasure working with a group of professionals who use their knowledge to help those going through difficult times.

We work in the shadow of LASPO - even those who have suffered domestic abuse can still be affected by the problem of trapped capital when being assessed for legal aid, despite the recent caselaw on this. We help those who would otherwise fall into the ‘justice gap.’ It is amazing to see that other agencies share the same values as the Law Centre, specifically those who aim to dismantle the barriers towards access to justice faced by many clients. Many of our clients come to us whilst experiencing not only family law issues but also significant problems relating to insecure housing, debt and abuse. We are able to offer the client a wrap-around service, securing support from other specialist agencies to help resolve their issues. This approach often proves to be as equally important as the legal advice we are lucky enough to offer. Even when we don’t have capacity, we try to never leave any client without any direction and will signpost or refer wherever possible. Although it is difficult to see so many service users during such challenging times, being able to experience a clients progress from the beginning to the end of their journey with us here, makes this job the most rewarding I have had so far.

At Suffolk Law Centre our Family team is small. We are also dependent on our volunteers, without whom the numbers of clients we could advise would be significantly reduced. However, the work we do and the service we provide is invaluable to the most vulnerable facing family proceedings. I have seen first-hand how our assistance has helped to make a litigant in person’s experience with the Family court a positive one and placed them in good stead for the next stages of their legal journey. There is something so very magical about being within a team who strives in the fight against inequality every day. Our Legal Advice for Litigants in Persons Project has allowed us to create this safe space for our clients and for me, to play a part in this, as someone who is in the early stages of their legal career has been an incredible experience.