BePOC

Be Part Of Change

How we are working to make family justice fairer

BePOC (Be Part of Change) is Beck Fitzgerald’s campaign for systemic change in family justice. For the last ten years, we have worked not only to serve our clients, but to make the system work better for the children and families going through it.

Working at the coalface of family law, we gain practical insight into the gaps and barriers to justice. We see the improvements that are necessary to make the system fairer.

Right now, that system is broken. Services operate in silos, funding is disjointed, and too often the people the system exists for are not at its centre. Real change will ultimately need a complete reimagining of family justice, but there is much we can do now:

By working together with other stakeholders we are able to understand the difficulties they have in helping and supporting families through their legal challenges; we are actively involved in the most influential representative bodies with whom we actively campaign for change; we support equality and social mobility in the legal profession; and we undertake free legal support for our partner organisations and free training and advice for frontline agencies and charities.

We have already changed the Legal Aid rules on gateway evidence, widened access to justice through strategic litigation in R (GR) v Director of Legal Aid Casework, written the guidance on alienating behaviours, and changed practice for neurodivergent Family Court users.

BePOC builds on that work, focusing on domestic abuse, voice of the child and access to justice. We will use every tool available to us: changing narratives, producing best practice guidance, lobbying Parliament, working with partners, bringing legal challenges and working with the press.

We cannot fix everything at once, but by showing what better looks like, we can all be part of change.

Working with others

We actively partner with others in the family justice system to help provide joined up support.  We recognise family problems aren’t just legal and that, by working together, we can help find quicker, safer, cost effective solutions for you. Working with our partners we can see the gaps and hurdles that our client’s are facing and actively work to close them. We are founding members of Family Law Advice for the Neurodivergent Community (FLANC).

 

Click here to learn more about FLANC and our work with the Neurodivergent community

Our partners include:

Gudrun Burnet

‘Standing Together and the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) have worked with Beck Fitzgerald for a number of years now and have found them knowledgeable, caring and ‘can do’ in their approach. The survivors we have referred on to them have fed back they found the team at Beck Fitzgerald professional, expert in all aspects of domestic abuse, supportive and helpful. Former CEO, Standing Together

Thank you so very much and keep on fighting the good fight.

I recently saw something about Beck Fitzgerald on BBC News and was incredibly proud to hear of what you do for women who are in the same situation that I was in. You helped me out in such a significant way and I wish that the government would make amendments to the legal aid process and system of eligibility which would directly address the disparity of power that exists in the family court system, leaving abuse victims exposed further to repeated abuse again and again with little or no protection unless they happen to get lucky, which I did by being referred to Beck Fitzgerald. I really want to wish you all the very best for the future and thank you for everything you did for me in the past too.

Nicola Sharp-Jeffs

The team at Beck Fitzgerald understands the needs of victim-survivors of domestic abuse and goes above and beyond in meeting them. Their campaigning is vitally important in making justice accessible to all and Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA) is proud to contribute to and support this work. Founder, Surviving Economic Abuse

I am so glad to hear that most of the suggestions put forward for the family court to improve will actually be implemented

I know that Jenny in particular is involved in a lot of campaigning to bring about these much needed changes. I really hope these changes allow more victims (predominantly women) to feel they can have more faith in the family justice system. My support worker has told me that many women have felt incredibly let down by the courts which is a sad indictment on the current system. So far, my personal experience of dealing with the courts has not been without flaws but overall, it has been okay. Again, that is mainly down to the fact that I chose your firm to represent me which is absolutely the best thing I could have done considering the stresses I was under at the time. I really doubt I would have had the same experience without such expert legal representation so thank you once again.

Take action

If you are a lawyer join LAPG

LAPG is a membership body representing legal aid practitioners in England and Wales and the clients they serve.

If you are a young lawyer join YLAL

YLAL campaigns for a sustainable legal aid system which provides good quality legal help to those who could not otherwise afford to pay for it.

If you are a member of the public.

Keep an eye on our news pages, follow us on Linkedin to see the latest developments in the justice space. You can get involved by contacting your MP on any issues. You can find out who your MP is by clicking this link.

If you would like more information about our services or our wider work on making the law fairer then please call us on 020 7101 3090 or email us on contact@beckfitzgerald.co.uk