The gradual erosion of public funding for legal proceedings has put the plight of vulnerable clients, who are subject to legal process, into stark review. In family cases legal aid is now only automatically available to parents and children who are parties in care proceedings or clients who are under 18. Parties with ‘proof of domestic violence’ may also be entitled, subject to proof of means and satisfaction of a legal merits criteria. ‘Exceptionally’ others may be granted public funding in family cases (for example interveners who face serious allegations) but the upper limits of the financial threshold is demoralisingly low. Clients who lack capacity to conduct litigation, are not automatically entitled to legal aid, however they are entitled to be represented by the Office of the Official Solicitor provided that there is no other suitable person or agency that is willing to act. The Official Solicitor (OS) becomes formally involved when appointed by the Court and in family proceedings he is very much an option of last resort. Usually the OS will require a Capacity Certificate to have been signed by a qualified psychologist or psychiatrist before he agrees to act. Also in the area of international child protection obligations, the OS deals with cases brought under the Hague Convention. In this capacity it also deals with international child abduction and contact issues and handles maintenance enforcement in cases where one parent lives outside of the UK. The office dates back to the 18th century when it dealt with the legal affairs of “paupers, infants and lunatics who had no ‘natural protector’ “. The present office was created by the Lord Chancellor in 1875 with the approval of the President of the newly created Family Division. The present legal basis of the OS dates from 1981. In 2005 the OS became the Official Solicitor to the Senior Courts.
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