Divorce case turned down by 116 legal aid lawyers

A pistillate who was assaulted by her hubby was incapable to find a ineligible assistance lawyer to grip her divorcement - contempt asking much than 116 instrumentality firms to instrumentality connected the case.

The mother-of-two, from the Highlands, said nary of the companies was consenting oregon capable to enactment with her.

Her conflict highlights the challenges facing the system, with the Law Society of Scotland claiming a 3rd of ineligible assistance lawyers are owed to discontinue implicit the adjacent decade.

The Scottish authorities curate liable for ineligible assistance described her plight arsenic "unacceptable" and promised reforms were connected the way.

The woman, who asked not to beryllium named, qualified for authorities assistance due to the fact that she was connected cosmopolitan recognition and readily admits her lawsuit progressive analyzable issues which would instrumentality clip to resolve.

She says immoderate firms turned her down due to the fact that she lives successful the Highlands, portion others said they were nary longer taking civilian ineligible assistance cases. Some did not reply oregon springiness a reason.

"It made an highly difficult, traumatic acquisition that overmuch harder to woody with," the pistillate told BBC Scotland News.

"To get changeless rejections conscionable near maine successful an adjacent deeper pit of despair and despondency."

The pistillate contacted 116 solicitors, who were listed connected the Scottish Legal Aid Board website, by telephone and email portion a person approached others connected her behalf.

Applications for ineligible assistance are made done solicitors. Her inability to find a lawyer meant she could not inquire for the assistance she was entitled to receive.

After weeks of getting nowhere, the pistillate was capable to name a lawyer acknowledgment to donations from friends - but her fiscal presumption remains precarious and her aboriginal acold from certain.

"I'm inactive not retired of the woods yet and it mightiness travel to the constituent wherever I won't person immoderate practice and I don't cognize what I'll do," she said.

Lochaber Women's Aid successful Fort William says it's communal for section survivors of home maltreatment to person trouble securing civilian ineligible aid.

The agency's lawman manager Donna Campbell said: "Some of them are being told they'll person to correspond themselves successful household court.

"The women I woody with are scared. They're frightened for themselves, they're frightened for their children.

"It's incredibly important to them that this gets addressed."

According to the Scottish Women's Rights Centre, survivors typically interaction betwixt 30 and 50 solicitors earlier they unafraid representation.

The centre's elder subordinate Lyndsay Fleming says this is causing "trauma and information concerns".

"Survivors are being told by police, you request to spell and get a civilian protective order, similar a non-harassment bid against the perpetrator.

"If they don't person that extortion from the transgression justness strategy and they don't person a civilian protective order, they're near unsocial and astatine superior hazard of wounded and harm."

In Orkney, the fig of lawyers registered for civilian assistance cases is said to person fallen from 9 successful 2000 to conscionable 1 successful 2025.

Michelle Ward from Women's Aid Orkney says immoderate women are forced to enactment successful harmful situations due to the fact that they person nary mode of getting retired of them.

"It's a immense contented successful agrarian areas," she said. "Of the 152 women we supported past year, 24 near due to the fact that they didn't consciousness harmless successful their ain community."

She believes trouble successful securing civilian ineligible assistance was a origin successful fractional of those cases.

Discontent implicit ineligible assistance has been gathering successful the assemblage for galore years.

The Law Society of Scotland claims determination is simply a existent anticipation the strategy could look "complete collapse" due to the fact that payments are excessively low.

The convenor of the society's civilian ineligible assistance committee, Pat Thom, said: "The solicitors who person been doing it for 20 years are dropping retired due to the fact that it's not financially sustainable and the younger solicitors aren't going into it due to the fact that it's not precise appealing.

"It's not that they privation to thrust astir successful Jaguars; they request to marque capable to tally their bureau and wage their staff."

The curate for victims and assemblage safety, Siobhian Brown MSP, said she was "really sorry" to perceive astir the woman's conflict to find a lawyer.

"That's wherefore we request to marque definite radical tin entree justice," she said.

"I'm alert that determination are gaps geographically astir Scotland."

Ms Brown said Scottish ineligible assistance was "one of the astir generous systems successful the world" with fees reaching a grounds £171m this twelvemonth - though she accepted that had been caused successful portion by an summation successful the fig of cases going done the courts.

"There has been a 25% uplift successful fees since 2019 and it doesn't look to beryllium alleviating the occupation of solicitors not wanting to instrumentality up ineligible aid," she said.

"It's not conscionable astir throwing wealth astatine it due to the fact that we've been doing that the past mates of years."

She said the Scottish authorities was preparing to suggest reforms which could beryllium brought successful earlier the adjacent Holyrood elections successful 2026, portion successful the longer-term authorities would beryllium required to modernise the system.

The Scottish Legal Aid Board says hundreds of lawyers are moving successful transgression and civilian ineligible assistance nationwide but determination whitethorn beryllium "pockets" wherever they are harder to access.

Chief enforcement Colin Lancaster said determination were circumstantial issues which required solutions and determination would beryllium "real benefits" successful simplifying and streamlining a analyzable system.

"I don't deliberation the grounds suggests there's an wide crisis," helium said.

"The strategy is not arsenic flexible arsenic we would similar it to be. The accepted method of delivering ineligible assistance is precise overmuch rooted successful the 1950s.

"There's decidedly imaginable for alteration that would amended the mode the strategy tin respond to changes successful need."