Fight Child Protection Department Corruption:
The following is an interview with a mother in the the UK who is desperately seeking the return of her baby.
Michael: So we'll start right at the beginning shall we. Where did it all begin, and when did it start going so wrong Natalie?
Natalie: It all began on Feb 2012 when my ex partner made malicious reports to ss, they came out and investigated and found nothing wrong and even praised me on how I bought my kids up. Less than one week later an unannounced home visit took place, I wasn't home, no one was, and things started going wrong, I started getting phone calls on a regular basis 'checking up' and the Fi my then 1 year old went into hospital to have some observation and tests due to seizures she had been suffering, they kept us there a week and then ss came on one day told me that I wouldn't be taking her home with me, they claimed I had made up about these seizures. They told me right there and then they were taking both my 1 year old Fi and 3 month old Princess and putting them up for adoption. It only got delayed as my mam said she would have them.
By the way this was all without any evidence and any orders. But the Dr at the hospital Dr Deekaluu he told the ss I was lying and he has never Said she ever had epilepsy. The new evidence I have proves very different.
Michael: So this Dr told SS you didn't inform him of the epilepsy. Did he do this in affidavits in court huh? Who else lied in court, anyone?
Natalie: Noo he told the ss that he had never told me that she had probable epilepsy... And yes he lied in court, ye few people lied in court Lynda Harries- CAFCASS Michelle Jayne- social worker Amanda Reed- independent assessor, Carys Kennedy- solicitor for social worker, and even my own barrister David Blake.Michael:We'll start with your barrister shall we? What happened?
Natalie: Ok my barrister, was given videos I had on my phone of my girl having seizures as well as a medication chart and letters from hospital and he withheld them all, and he told me I should give up on em And walk away. The judge never saw these things.
Michael: So there must be a legal complaints tribunal?
Natalie: I DUNNO I BEEN TRYING TO FIND OUT ALL THESE THINGS (See Below for details on how you can make a complaint about a barrister in England).
How to complain about your lawyer• Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for Solicitors. • Bar Standards Board (BSB) for Barristers. • Council of Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) for Licensed Conveyancers. • ILEX Professional Standards (IPS) for Legal Executives • Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPreg)for the Patent Attorney and Trade Mark Attorney professions. • Costs Lawyer Standards Board for Costs Lawyers. • Master of Faculties for Notaries. • Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) for probate services.
It will help your case immensely if you can lodge a complaint and they decide it has foundation.
1. How do I make a complaint about my barrister?
You should first try to resolve your complaint with the barrister or the chambers by using the local complaints process. All barristers who are self-employed are required to have a written complaints procedure, so please contact them about this in the first instance.
If you used a solicitor to instruct the barrister on your behalf, you may wish to first discuss your concerns with them. They may then be able to raise your issues directly with the barrister. However, if you want to make a formal complaint about your barrister, you should normally complain in writing to the barrister's Chambers. 'Chambers' is the term used to describe the offices where self-employed barristers work.
2. What should I do if I am not happy with the response I receive from my barrister or the chambers?
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive either from the barrister or their Chambers, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman will not normally look at a complaint unless you have first made a complaint to the barrister or the chambers.
The Legal Ombudsman's contact details are:
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6806,
Wolverhampton,
WV1 9WJ
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Web: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Telephone: 0300 555 1777
3. What is the Legal Ombudsman?
The Legal Ombudsman is an independent organisation with powers to resolve complaints about the service provided by lawyers, including barristers, when it has not been possible to resolve the complaint between the client and their lawyer.
If the Legal Ombudsman considers that you were given a poor service by your barrister, it has the power to ask your barrister to reduce their fees or pay compensation to you. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman can only consider complaints about a barrister that is acting or has acted for you. If you are not the barrister is not acting or has not acted for you but you still wish to make a complaint, go to our FAQs for persons wishing to make a complaint against a barrister who is not acting or has not acted for you page
The Legal Ombudsman cannot deal with complaints about professional misconduct. However, if the Legal Ombudsman thinks that your complaint includes an issue of professional misconduct, it will copy your complaint to the BSB for consideration (See FAQ 6).
4. What will happen if I complain directly to the Bar Standards Board about my barrister?
If you send your complaint about your barrister directly to the BSB, we will forward it immediately to the Legal Ombudsman and let you know we have done this. We will not usually take any action ourselves unless the Legal Ombudsman subsequently refers the complaint to us because it may include issues of professional misconduct. (See FAQ 6)
5. What is the difference between "professional misconduct" and "poor service"?
"Professional misconduct" is when a barrister has breached the Bar's Code of Conduct. Examples of misconduct include acting dishonestly, misleading the court, failing to keep information confidential or withdrawing from a case at short notice without good reason.
"Poor service" is the failure of a barrister to carry out work to a reasonable standard.
If you require further information concerning what might constitute poor service then you should contact the office of the Legal Ombudsman.
6. What will happen if my complaint contains both issues of "professional misconduct" and "poor service"?
Some types of behaviour by a barrister will be both professional misconduct and poor service, and sometimes complaints will include separate issues of misconduct and poor service.
You do not need to decide if your complaint needs to be sent to the Legal Ombudsman and the BSB, and you do not need to do anything if your complaint does contain issues of both poor service and professional misconduct.
The Legal Ombudsman will assess your complaint first. Where they think that it contains issues of professional misconduct, they will refer the complaint to us to consider as well. The Legal Ombudsman will let you know if it has referred any issues to us, and we will contact you to confirm this.
We will, in most cases, put on hold (adjourn) our consideration of the misconduct issues until the Legal Ombudsman has finished considering any issues of poor service. We do this so that you will not be contacted by two separate organisations about the same investigation at the same time. The Legal Ombudsman will pass onto the BSB any information relating to your misconduct complaint immediately.
In some cases, we will start our investigation immediately, for example, if the complaint is considered to be very serious.
You should first try to resolve your complaint with the barrister or the chambers by using the local complaints process. All barristers who are self-employed are required to have a written complaints procedure, so please contact them about this in the first instance.
If you used a solicitor to instruct the barrister on your behalf, you may wish to first discuss your concerns with them. They may then be able to raise your issues directly with the barrister. However, if you want to make a formal complaint about your barrister, you should normally complain in writing to the barrister's Chambers. 'Chambers' is the term used to describe the offices where self-employed barristers work.
2. What should I do if I am not happy with the response I receive from my barrister or the chambers?
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive either from the barrister or their Chambers, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman will not normally look at a complaint unless you have first made a complaint to the barrister or the chambers.
The Legal Ombudsman's contact details are:
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6806,
Wolverhampton,
WV1 9WJ
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Web: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Telephone: 0300 555 1777
3. What is the Legal Ombudsman?
The Legal Ombudsman is an independent organisation with powers to resolve complaints about the service provided by lawyers, including barristers, when it has not been possible to resolve the complaint between the client and their lawyer.
If the Legal Ombudsman considers that you were given a poor service by your barrister, it has the power to ask your barrister to reduce their fees or pay compensation to you. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman can only consider complaints about a barrister that is acting or has acted for you. If you are not the barrister is not acting or has not acted for you but you still wish to make a complaint, go to our FAQs for persons wishing to make a complaint against a barrister who is not acting or has not acted for you page
The Legal Ombudsman cannot deal with complaints about professional misconduct. However, if the Legal Ombudsman thinks that your complaint includes an issue of professional misconduct, it will copy your complaint to the BSB for consideration (See FAQ 6).
4. What will happen if I complain directly to the Bar Standards Board about my barrister?
If you send your complaint about your barrister directly to the BSB, we will forward it immediately to the Legal Ombudsman and let you know we have done this. We will not usually take any action ourselves unless the Legal Ombudsman subsequently refers the complaint to us because it may include issues of professional misconduct. (See FAQ 6)
5. What is the difference between "professional misconduct" and "poor service"?
"Professional misconduct" is when a barrister has breached the Bar's Code of Conduct. Examples of misconduct include acting dishonestly, misleading the court, failing to keep information confidential or withdrawing from a case at short notice without good reason.
"Poor service" is the failure of a barrister to carry out work to a reasonable standard.
If you require further information concerning what might constitute poor service then you should contact the office of the Legal Ombudsman.
6. What will happen if my complaint contains both issues of "professional misconduct" and "poor service"?
Some types of behaviour by a barrister will be both professional misconduct and poor service, and sometimes complaints will include separate issues of misconduct and poor service.
You do not need to decide if your complaint needs to be sent to the Legal Ombudsman and the BSB, and you do not need to do anything if your complaint does contain issues of both poor service and professional misconduct.
The Legal Ombudsman will assess your complaint first. Where they think that it contains issues of professional misconduct, they will refer the complaint to us to consider as well. The Legal Ombudsman will let you know if it has referred any issues to us, and we will contact you to confirm this.
We will, in most cases, put on hold (adjourn) our consideration of the misconduct issues until the Legal Ombudsman has finished considering any issues of poor service. We do this so that you will not be contacted by two separate organisations about the same investigation at the same time. The Legal Ombudsman will pass onto the BSB any information relating to your misconduct complaint immediately.
In some cases, we will start our investigation immediately, for example, if the complaint is considered to be very serious.
How to complain about your lawyer
Please note that the Legal Services Board does not handle complaints about lawyers and cannot intervene in any new or ongoing complaint or dispute.
If you have a complaint about the service you received from your lawyer, you should first make a formal complaint to your lawyer or law firm. Tips on how to complain to your lawyer are available on the Legal Ombudsman’s website.
If you are not satisfied by the way in which your complaint was dealt with by your lawyer of law firm, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman. You can do this by calling 0300 555 0333, emailing enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or writing to: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ.
The Legal Ombudsman is an independent service for resolving complaints about lawyers.
If you think your lawyer may have not conducted themselves in the correct manner, you should contact the body which regulates them listed below. The Legal Ombudsman will not investigate conduct matters, and any cases that they deem to be conduct issues will be passed to one of the appropriate regulatory bodies:
Please note that the Legal Services Board does not handle complaints about lawyers and cannot intervene in any new or ongoing complaint or dispute.
If you have a complaint about the service you received from your lawyer, you should first make a formal complaint to your lawyer or law firm. Tips on how to complain to your lawyer are available on the Legal Ombudsman’s website.
If you are not satisfied by the way in which your complaint was dealt with by your lawyer of law firm, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman. You can do this by calling 0300 555 0333, emailing enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or writing to: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ.
The Legal Ombudsman is an independent service for resolving complaints about lawyers.
If you think your lawyer may have not conducted themselves in the correct manner, you should contact the body which regulates them listed below. The Legal Ombudsman will not investigate conduct matters, and any cases that they deem to be conduct issues will be passed to one of the appropriate regulatory bodies: