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I worked as a paralegal and then as a solicitor specialising in domestic violence for more than ten years before some years ago, and with regret, I saw the writing on the wall and left the profession for good. I was always of the opinion that I was effectively doing a job which the police had the power to do but had no interest in. The police have stated repeatedly that they would pay more attention to the needs of the vulnerable and yet have consistently have failed to do so. The only way I could ever protect my clients was to obtain civil injunctions and then pass those onto the police with varying results as to how they actually enforced them. My private clients of course were always left at the mercy of the police and the CPS. I saw yesterday that the BBC news reported a very distressing case of domestic violence which would appear to show that despite police assurances some forces still do not recognise that domestic violence is a cause for concern. What the civil legal aid budget at the very least used to do was provide someone to whom my clients could come to as a point of contact and who could contact the relevant police station and encourage them to do what they are paid to do.
If the police are unwilling or incapable of doing their jobs then the state is further remiss by not providing the funds for certain very lowly paid lawyers to remind them of what they are already empowered to do.
It is with personal regret that I left the profession as the stories I could tell of vulnerable young women and children I helped will live with me forever.