Divorce lawyer defends equal share for wives

A family lawyer has spoken up for the rights of hard-working stay-at-home mums to be awarded an equal share of the assets on divorce.

The comments by Elspeth Kinder, a solicitor with DWF, follows a recent survey which revealed that mums would be paid more than the average salary if they received the going rate for their chores.

The survey by alljoinon.com showed the average mum did almost nine hours’ of house-work a day and would earn an annual salary of nearly £30,000 if she was employed, compared to the average UK wage of £23,700.

Elspeth says: “The survey illustrates the valuable contribution that hard-working mums make to a household, often in addition to working full or part time. The equal contribution made by wives was a key theme in the case of White v White in 2000, which revolutionised divorce law and established the principle of an equal division of assets. Each case is individual, and in some cases a wife and mother may even need more than 50 per cent of the capital assets to provide a home for her and the children together with ongoing maintenance.

“Husbands often question the 50/50 principle but many successful men wouldn’t be where they are without the support of their wives. Acknowledgment should also be given to the continued role that wives play following a divorce, when they often take on the responsibility of looking after the kids for many years after the marriage has broken down – leaving their former husbands free to pursue potentially successful careers.”

DWF has developed extensive sector-specific expertise in a number of areas including: automotive, education, retail & leisure, legal expenses and food and resourcing. Further information on DWF is available via www.dwf.co.uk

Divorce set to boom as marriages go bust

New Year has always been a busy time for divorce lawyers but some experts are expecting January 2009 to be a record month.

A survey by the Local Government Association (LGA), which found one-fifth of local authorities reporting increased demand for relationship counselling, has led to predictions of a “bumper” divorce season.

Some family law solicitors say the influx of calls just after the festive period can be three times the monthly average.

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Lawyer aims to take the battle out of divorce

In the run-up to D-Day on 12 January – the day when feuding couples are most likely to start divorce proceedings – a lawyer is on a mission to make people aware that there is a less stressful way to split up.

Carol Grundell, a partner with law firm DWF, is a specialist in collaborative law, a revolutionary approach which helps to ease the pain of divorce for couples and their children. The system aims to avoid costly and confrontational court battles. Instead both partners commit to settling matters out of court by working together to reach a mutual agreement with the help of their lawyers.

Whereas usually negotiations are conducted by letters or phone calls between the two lawyers, using the collaborative system the partners themselves meet face to face, with their lawyers by their side and with additional help from mediators or counsellors where the situation demands it.

The first Monday in January after the children go back to school is traditionally the busiest day for divorce lawyers, with many relationships having been pushed to the limit by the strain of the festive season.

Carol said: “A bitter divorce can have a lasting impact on the couple concerned and their family. The conventional divorce procedure is by nature confrontational and pits both partners against each other, aggravating any ill feelings that already exist between them.

“The collaborative approach provides a genuine alternative and makes for a less traumatic experience. It can often create an atmosphere of respect and understanding that did not exist before and, unlike in a courtroom setting, the couple stay in control of the whole process.

“It is particularly helpful where children are involved as it sends out very positive signals. Research has consistently shown that children benefit hugely from knowing that their parents are working out their differences together, constructively.”

National Divorce Day tips from ChildLine and Your Family website

‘National Divorce Day’ tips from ChildLine and Your Family website

ChildLine and the Your Family parenting website have joined forces on National Divorce Day (5 January 2009) to help parents put children first when separating.

An estimated 117,000 children see their parents divorce each year and the new year is the time when unhappy couples are most likely to contact lawyers about ending a marriage.

Head of ChildLineSue Minto said; “Divorcing parents can be overwhelmed by feelings like anger, sadness, and helplessness. This often makes it hard to focus on the wishes and needs of scared and bewildered children whose lives are about to be turned upside down.

“Parental separation is a crisis for children as well as adults. Children suffer deeply when the adults they love fall into conflict. They are deeply upset by the hurt, pain and confusion of divorce.

“Children often phone ChildLine when their families are in turmoil. They tell counsellors about being scared by arguments, feeling they are being forced to choose between mum and dad or that the break-up is their fault. Children can be helped to adjust to the changes happening around them if parents take the time to explain how much they are loved and that whatever happens is not their fault.”
At least one child a day calls ChildLine upset about parents arguments. Children have told ChildLine:

“Mum doesn’t trust Dad and makes me spy on him and tell her what he’s been doing. The stress of it is making me ill and made me lose loads of friends.” (Girl aged 16)
“My parents where arguing about me today. I think they might separate because of me.” (Girl aged 9)

“Mum and Dad split up. Since then I feel like they’ve used me as a go between in their arguments. Mum and Dad don’t speak to each other and I am expected to pass on messages. (Girl aged 16)

To help families during this difficult time, NSPCC which runs ChildLine has produced some new advice to help parents shield their children from the affects of divorce.

YourFamily.org.uk tips for divorcing parents

• Say “I love you” – tell children how much you love them. It sounds obvious but children of all ages need extra reassurance if they feel their family is falling apart and they will be separated from loved ones.

• Listen up – listen to children and comfort them if they are upset or worried. When you are caught up in your own emotional turmoil, it can be easy to forget the feelings of those around you.

• Keep talking – reinforce the fact that the split is not their fault.

• Be honest – while children do not need to be involved in every detail of a divorce, it’s important to be as honest as possible about what happened and what’s going to happen while providing as much reassurance as possible.

• Keep a routine – try and keep the day to day schedule as normal as possible. Introduce the changes slowly and talk any changes through with your children.

• Family time – make sure both parents have as much time as practical to spend with the children unless there are obvious reasons why this would be dangerous such as a partner with drink or drug problems.

• Home sweet home – if your children come to visit you in your new home, make sure there are some familiar items there such as toys or posters for the bedroom. This will help reinforce that you are still a big part of their lives.

• Share the load – when appropriate, try and share out the child care responsibilities between both parties so children can see that both parents are still very involved in family life.

• Keep some things to your self –don’t criticise your partner in front of the children or alienate them from him/her. Whatever has happened between you, your children will still love both parents equally.

• Phone a friend – find someone you trust to talk to about what’s happening in your life. It’s very difficult to bottle up the hurt and having a friend to talk to means you are less likely to let off steam in front of the children.

• Remember the little things – children may be very worried about seemingly minor things like what is going to happen to their pet or will they see their friends. It’s important to recognise these are important to children.

• Get a second opinion – children often find it difficult to articulate their feelings, especially younger children. Look for signs in their behaviour to keep a track of how they are dealing with the split. Ask friends, families and teachers to keep an eye on your child’s behaviour too. When you are dealing with your own feelings of grief, it can be hard to spot the often subtle signs your child may be giving out.

For information help and advise, go to www.YourFamily.org.uk

Interview with President Rosalyn Higgins of the International Court of Justice

President Higgins has a distinguished and accomplished career. She is Dame Commander of the British Empire, a Fellow of the British Academy, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. President Higgins is also a Barrister, Queen’s Counsel, and a Bencher of the Inner Temple. President Higgins practiced public international law and petroleum law in the English courts, and before various international tribunals, including the International Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Court of the European Communities. Prior to her appointment to the Court, Dame Rosalyn was Counsel for the following cases in the International Court of Justice: case concerning East Timor (Portugal v. Australia); Territorial Dispute (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya/Chad); Questions of Interpretation and Application of the 1971 Montreal Convention arising from the Aerial Incident at Lockerbie (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya v. United Kingdom); case concerning Gabčíkovo‑Nagymaros Project (Hungary/Slovakia).

Read the interview on The Law Journal

International Court of Justice

Does Law Require Legislation?

About the author: Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995) was dean of the Austrian School. He was an economist, economic historian, and libertarian political philosopher.

While at least a corporal’s guard of libertarian economists exists in America today, the situation in the other disciplines of human action is indeed bleak. Most political scientists, for example, are either engaged in spinning fallacious scientistic “models” or in solemnly recording the empirical minutiae of the workings of government bureaucracy. The small minority of political philosophers (those who still grapple with such basic questions as the nature and proper function of the State) trumpet the alleged glories of Order, Tradition, Community, the “Leap in Being,” and Good Manners, but somehow remain silent about the liberty of the individual. This pervading miasma makes all the more welcome the publication of a notable series of lectures by Professor Bruno Leoni, eminent jurist and political scientist of the University of Pavia, Italy. For here at last is a political scientist with strong libertarian inclinations.

Professor Leoni’s major thesis is that even the staunchest free-market economists have unwisely admitted that laws must be created by governmental legislation; this concession, Leoni shows, provides an inevitable gateway for State tyranny over the individual. The other side of the coin to increasing intervention by government in the free market has been the burgeoning of legislation, with its inherent coercion by a majority—or, more often, by an oligarchy of pseudo-”representatives” of a majority—over the rest of the population. In this connection, Leoni presents a brilliant critique of F.A. Hayek’s recent writings on the “rule of the law.” In contrast to Hayek, who calls for general legislative rules as opposed to the vagaries of arbitrary bureaucracy or of “administrative law,” Leoni points out that the real and underlying menace to individual freedom is not the administrator but the legislative statute that makes the administrative ruling possible.[1] It is not enough, demonstrates Leoni, to have general rules applicable to everyone and written down in advance; for these rules themselves may—and generally do—invade freedom.

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Law firm sees strong case for Signify two-factor authentication

Reputational risk drives move to secure remote access

Law firm Hodge Jones and Allen is providing many of its 170 staff with secure, round-the-clock remote access to email and client case notes using an RSA SecurID two-factor authentication (2FA) hosted service from Cambridge-based Signify. This is part of the London firm’s ongoing commitment to the highest levels of security to prevent confidential information being compromised and also to avoid any risk to its reputation.

In addition to providing senior staff with access to company resources and applications, selected clients, partners and third-party companies can also log-in securely using the Signify two-factor authentication service. This includes typists who are able to work flexibly from home through secure access to the digital dictation system.

Users are issued with a small RSA SecurID token from Signify that produces a new unique one-time passcode (OTP) every 60 seconds. By using this, along with their known user name and secret PIN via the web-based Citrix Application Portal, they can log in safely at any time and from anywhere. This gives users the same desktop look and feel and access to authorised applications and data as if they were sitting at their desks in the office.

As a hosted service, Signify handles everything from dispatching Tokens and rights administration to providing a 24/7 support and dealing with forgotten passwords. “We used to run an RSA solution in-house but it was a hassle to manage and maintain the authentication servers and support our users round-the-clock,” says Celina Ho, IT Manager at Hodge Jones & Allen.

“The Signify hosted service now handles everything and just keeps running, so we can get on dealing with other important issues. The system is easy to use, is always available and simple to deploy, manage and scale.”

Celina Ho is also able to enforce corporate security policy, add or remove users, define what they are authorised to access and view detailed reports using Signify’s powerful Identity Management Centre web portal. The law firm is also looking at using Signify’s Passcode OnDemand service that sends unique one time passcodes to a mobile phone or PDA. This is ideal for less frequent users and for those that don’t want to carry a separate token.

“With increasing pressure and competition, lawyers and other legal professionals need reliable, round the clock access to client information and communications,” says Dave Abrahams, CEO at Signify. “But while most law firms recognise that simple passwords are not secure, many don’t want the additional hassle or don’t have the resources to run an in-house two-factor authentication solution. That’s why we are finding increasing interest in our hosted services.”