In praise of my baby barrister...

[TeapotDictator]

I thought I would write about my experience in a final hearing (children) matter recently. Money is quite tight (no maintenance from father, was SAHM etc etc) and legal bills are racking up.

In the 2nd hearing I took a McKenzie Friend. She was very good, but charged me £300 and was going to charge me more at £50ph if we went on for too long. The matter was referred for a final hearing and my solicitor recommended I take counsel, because my STBXH was applying for 50:50 shared residency and obviously a lot was at stake as I believed very strongly that in our circumstances this would not be in the best interest of the children.

The barrister I took has only been at the bar for 3 years, a year of which was spent in pupillage. He was recommended by my solicitor, and was fantastic. There is no way I could have done what was done at the final hearing (which included lots of cross-examination, including of my ex) and I imagine the McK Friend would have charged me more than £300 to attend for a FH. The barrister's charge was £850, no VAT. For that he received the brief a few days in advance, read everything and produced a position statement. He then spent a whole day in court and was very professional. The McKenzie Friend did not ask me to send much information through and wanted me to send through my thoughts and a breakdown of the facts so she could draft a statement. She would not have been able to speak or cross-examine on my behalf.

I'm writing this post because I was apprehensive about going down this route, but now just so pleased that I did. Although expensive I do not think it is prohibitively so for many people.

There are some really good very junior barristers out there. I am always recommending them to people. I am glad it worked out so well for you.

Thanks, I don't know why I was so nervous about it. My ex's barrister was 20 years more experienced but I certainly didn't feel 'short-changed' by having a relative novice.

Teapot, I am about to go to court for exactly the same matter. I was planning to self-represent due to finances and feel very worried about doing this. Does anyone know how I would go about finding a junior barrister please? Many thanks.

Glad to hear you've had a good result. I've met some excellent barristers - baby or otherwise (I am a McKenzie Friend). I've worked with a few I can recommend highly.

It's worth shopping around when it comes to people assisting you for hearings. My style of work differs from others and my charges do too (for a start...I charge a flat rate for hearing attendance meaning if you're lucky and I'm unlucky you'll pay me for a 30 minute hearing but I'll be there with you all day). My record is from 9am to 4.30pm for a `30 minute hearing'.

I'm able to deal with large amounts of paperwork (I thank God...or rather HP for my industrial-size scanner/printer) and I'm doing something right as I have achieved some good results.

One of the beauties of a McKenzie Friend is the flexibility.

At one end of the scale I have put together bundles for hearings at the PRFD (my other half who does the same thing as me at RCJ on numerous occasions). At the other I've been asked just to attend on the day.

A good barrister or McKenzie Friend has swing the day so well done!

Well done Teapot - it looks like you dropped really lucky with this. I have already seen a barrister on the chance my case might go to court and it has cost me over 4K including my solicitor being there at the same time!!! Good for you!!!

Lostdad, I've PM'd you with regard to the recommendations. Hope that's ok.

Hi
I'm going through court process and my ex wants 50/50 even though he lives in Wolverhampton, work full time does not want to do the travelling and unwilling to even feed our child. So I had to catch a train with my 2 year old and provide pack lunch. My solicitor saying I maybe cross examined which is terrifying considering how abusive he was to me and how traumatic it all being. What was your outcome? Was it scary process going into final hearing

Hi

What was your outcome so I can see some hope. It just my ex is taking me to court we ended up in the final hearing as he was unwilling to negotiate the travel. I'm expected to catch a train every Sunday to drop our 2 year son off from stoke to Wolverhampton and provide pack lunch. As he claims he pays me child maintenance therefore I should provide the food. He wants 50% but works full time. Have his family look after him who so far have being unwilling to travel to stoke to see their grandson. My solicitors says I maybe cross examined. I'm terrified because it like re living trauma of his coercive control.

That’s really good did you get the outcome you wanted?
my barrister was not junior and not cheap sadly but he was absolutely bloody brilliant and smashed my ex to pieces in a few hours.
he was one of the people who saved our lives and I will never forget him

Oh I am after a barrister and self representing. Would love some recommendations if anyone would pm me

I’d like to recommend Johnathan Nosworthy for family law and financial remedies. He is a very senior barrister, but worth every penny I paid him. I had a particularly complex case, and he was incredibly intelligent, strategic, a very skilled negotiator with a lot of foresight, and importantly, a kind and humane man. He genuinely cared about my case and achieved a settlement for me in mediation that was, most likely, better than I’d get in court. He works closely with equally brilliant solicitor Mark Hands. Both based in Birmingham. I interviewed several solicitors and Mark was very impressive.

I hope my post isn’t deleted for advertising. That isn’t my aim here. I hope my recommendation helps someone. Happy to answer any questions privately.