Abstract
Rights of Women attracted much UK media attention in late 2014 by bringing a judicial review that challenged the reduced provisions for family law legal aid available for victims of domestic violence: R (On the Application of Rights of Women) v The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice [2015] EWHC 35 (Admin). In June 2015, within Rights of Women’s 40th anniversary year, Hannah Camplin interviewed the organisation’s Director Emma Scott about the decision to bring the judicial review, the advantages and challenges of the judicial review process, and the experience of strategic litigation within the context of Rights of Women’s long history of campaigning for women’s rights. What emerged is a portrait of a feminist organisation in 2015, and, in a fast changing political and financial landscape, the dual importance of collaborative working and the need for flexibility in service provision and campaigning tools.
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Notes
As set out in the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) and the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012, SI 2012/3098.
For more information see www.rightsofwomen.org.uk. Accessed 19 August 2015.
Mrs Justice Lang said: “Although the Court may conclude that delegated legislation is ultra vires, despite approval by Parliament, it must decline to intervene where, in effect, a claimant asks it to enter the political arena and substitute its views for those of Parliament.” R (On the Application of Rights of Women) v The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice [2015] EWHC 35 (Admin), 81.
For more about the history of Rights of Women see www.rightsofwomen.org.uk/about-us/herstory/. Accessed 19 August 2015.
Harne, Lynne. 1984. Lesbian mothers on trial. London: Rights of Women.
For more information about Women’s Aid see www.womensaid.org.uk. Accessed 15 September 2015.
Yemshaw v London Borough of Hounslow [2011] UKSC 3.
For more information about Southall Black Sisters see www.southallblacksisters.org.uk. Accessed 15 September 2015.
R (on the application of Kaur) v London Borough of Ealing [2008] EWHC 2062 (Admin).
Supra no. 7.
Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012, SI 2012/3098, reg 33.
Rights of Women. March 2014. Evidencing domestic violence: a year on; see also Rights of Women, November 2014. Evidencing domestic violence: reviewing the amended regulations, available at: www.rightsofwomen.org.uk/policy-and-research/research-and-reports/. Accessed 19 August 2015.
Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) (Amendment) Regulations 2014, SI 2014/814.
Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, sch 1 para 12 (9).
For more information about The Law Society see www.lawsociety.org.uk. Accessed 15 September 2015.
For more information about the Public Law Project see www.publiclawproject.org.uk. Accessed 15 September 2015.
For more information about Resolution see www.resolution.org.uk. Accessed 15 September 2015.
For more information about the Legal Aid Practitioners Group see www.lapg.co.uk. Accessed 15 September 2015.
R (on the application of Rights of Women) supra no. 3.
Domestic violence protective injunctions created by the Family Law Act 1996.
For more information on the Athena Project see www.rightsofwomen.org.uk/about-us/athena-project/. Accessed 19 August 2015.
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Camplin, H., Scott, E. “We Are a Group of Feminist Lawyers Doing What We Can”: An Interview with Emma Scott, Director of Rights of Women. Fem Leg Stud 23, 319–328 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-015-9299-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-015-9299-z