MORE PEOPLE are staying together rather than separating because they have no option, according to a leading family lawyer.
Solicitor Eugene Davy says: “The family home is the gateway to a separation for most people. It was sold, or one bought out the other with a remortgage. Now there is no value in the family home, or people can’t get a mortgage, or both. Anecdotally, people are staying together as a result.
“Liabilities are a huge problem. Up until two years ago the courts were distributing assets and income. Now the biggest problem is getting out of indebtedness.
“In previous years a big issue in the outcome of a separation was the attitude of a third party if there was another relationship. Now the third party is the financial institution. Often parties reach an agreement, but then the lending institution won’t release one of the parties from a joint mortgage.”
All this has had an impact on the lawyers working in the area. “Fees are down,” Davy says. “The value of the assets was an issue in determining the fees. Now, there’s a big problem getting paid. Often fees are tied up in the possible sale of property, and often there is no sale.”
The changes have also been seen by barristers in the area. A senior counsel specialising in family law said Circuit Court appeals now made up about half the High Court list, where previously they would have been less than a third, and many of these appeals were people seeking to modify financial orders made in the Circuit Court, with which they could no longer comply.
Of the remainder, about half were effectively re-entries of High Court cases seeking a reduction in financial orders made previously, leaving only about a quarter of the cases listed being new cases.
“You are also seeing a reversion to barristers looking for money up front,” he says, “and there is a reversion to barristers being asked to do cases for cash, something we haven’t seen for years.” He adds that barristers are not agreeing to such suggestions.
The recession has impacted on this area of law in four ways, he says.
Volume has decreased, there are problems in being paid, there is difficulty in settling cases, and the courts have difficulty in finding solutions because often they are dealing with distributing indebtedness.
However, he concedes that there is still a lot of work going on. “In a recession, the legal profession does well. Even if there’s less business being done, there’s more litigation, though the issues may be different. People can’t afford to let €10,000 go, or have tenants not paying rent.”
There is also increased work related to insolvency, with an increase in examinerships and liquidations, he said.
Criminal work also continues. At the recent annual prosecutors’ conference, James Hamilton, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said more people had signed up to attend than in any previous year, with 260 registered to take part. Attendance is only open to those barristers on the prosecutors’ panel.
This is in spite of two reductions of 8 per cent in fees over the past 18 months, along with a cancelled cost of living increase.
Fees for criminal work, most of which is paid by the State, are therefore over 20 per cent less than two years ago.
At the moment, barristers outside Dublin get onto the prosecutors’ panel by competition and interview, but in Dublin this has been done more informally, based on performance in court.
This is shortly going to change, according to Mr Hamilton, with the competition and interview system being introduced also in the capital.
“There is a very definite impression that there is much more interest in this work. They have taken a fairly severe hammering in fees, but at least they still have work,” he says.
There is also an increase in volunteering at the bar, according to Bar Council spokeswoman, Jeanne McDonagh. “Northside Community Law Centre put out a call for volunteers and got too many,” she says. “We also see more and more academic qualifications coming through,” she adds. “A lot of the younger ones are doing post-graduate courses.”
One such younger barrister has a PhD and a master’s degree in law, as well as her BL. While busy, there is uncertainty about whether she will be paid for much of her work. She supplements her income by teaching European law. “Some people have left in the couple of years I’m down here,” she says. “It’s hard to gauge how people are doing. You wouldn’t intrude.”