<
https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/may/20/i-couldnt-do-it-any-more-family-lawyers-quit-amid-burnout-and-pain-of-billing-dv-victims>
"Family lawyers working with victims of domestic violence say they are unable
to see a future in the profession due to burnout and the stress of dealing with
a system that required them to bill vulnerable people hundreds of thousands of
dollars in fees.
Some lawyers told
Guardian Australia they had already left the family law
system – or may not be able to continue practising long-term.
And they said veteran lawyers often warned juniors not to go into the family
law arena because the system was too broken.
The revelations come as part of a
Guardian Australia series investigating
access to the legal system for victim-survivors of family abuse. It has found
that the family law system is used by perpetrators to continue the abuse of
their former partners, sometimes for more than a decade; that abuse survivors
routinely face six-figure legal bills if they wish to fight their ex-partner
for custody or property; and that just a tiny fraction of people are eligible
for free legal assistance at their most vulnerable time.
Cate Banks, an associate professor of law at Monash University, has worked in
the family law area for three decades, at private law firms, in the public law
space and as a mediator. She said she left private practice in family law
because of burnout. She now practices exclusively in the community sector.
“It’s such a stressful environment to work in,” Banks said. “You’re right in
the guts of somebody’s life and then you’re also billing them $20,000 and the
person is on the other end of the phone hysterical because of incidents that
have occurred.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
