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.”
‘They’re not rich women’
Billing clients was one of the most common issues raised by family lawyers when asked why they left the job, or left private practice to move into the public sector.
“As a lawyer you’ve got to bill, and every minute of your time is pretty accounted for,” said Stevie*, who left family law after close to a decade and did not wish to be named.
“Particularly these women that I have in my mind who had abusive partners – they’re not rich women. And I knew each time they got their monthly bill that they were sobbing. They would tell me that their anxiety on billing day was so high and each bill would be in the thousands.
“I couldn’t do it any more. I couldn’t bill people who I just knew couldn’t afford to pay it.”
Lawyers said they tried to keep bills down for vulnerable clients, using tactics such as batching emails from abusive ex-partners who would sometimes send hundreds of messages to their ex-partner’s lawyer, knowing the lawyer would charge for every minute they spent reading and responding to them.
“If I ever could shave time off their bill, like if I had enough billable hours,” Stevie said. ”I would do as much as I could.”
Stevie said the boss at the private legal practice where she worked was sympathetic and would regularly make concessions with bills and offer payment plans, but that it was not uncommon for legal bills to reach $200,000 for women whose family court matters ended up in final hearings.
Other lawyers said their experience billing vulnerable women was part of their motivation to move into the public system, which is made up of Legal Aid and community legal centres.
However, restrictions on Legal Aid’s funding meant just the lowest 8% of income earners in the country were eligible. Last year Legal Aid provided 40,000 legal aid grants in the family law space.
Family violence is a factor in 80% of family law matters, according to federal circuit and family court of Australia data.
Women’s community legal centres assisted 25,000 women with their family law matters last year, but had to turn away 52,000 women.
Vivian Galanis is the director of Wallumatta Legal, a not-for-profit, low-fee family law firm. It aims to provide services to the “missing middle” of people whose incomes are too high to receive free legal assistance but cannot afford private legal representation. Galanis estimates that 85% of Australians fall into this category.
Wallumatta Legal’s fees are about 50% of those typically charged by private firms.
Galanis said sending huge legal bills to women who had been victim to years of abuse, including financial abuse, was part of what motivated her to join Wallumatta – though she added that the private firm she worked at had tried to assist vulnerable clients as best they could.
“When you have those clients who contact you and say ‘I don’t know how I’m going to pay for this’, it’s heartbreaking, especially when you can see that they’ve got great prospects in their matter,” she said.
“You never want to see people walk away from their family law entitlements just because they can’t afford to pay your fees.”
‘It doesn’t feel sustainable’
Anna* has worked across both private and public sectors in family law but doubts she has a long-term future in the area.
“Just the rates of what you’re exposed to and the awful stories and the workload and the stress, it doesn’t feel sustainable,” she said. “It’s tricky because I can’t see myself doing it forever and yet in the same breath I really find the work incredibly rewarding and I can’t see myself doing anything else.”
Anna estimates that 70%-80% of the lawyers she started with at her first practice less than a decade ago have now left family law.
“You do have those really rewarding stories of getting a good outcome for a client,” she said. “But I think for me, and most of my peers who work in the area, we often comment on how unsustainable it is.”
Stevie said veteran lawyers often cautioned juniors against going into the field.
“[They] will say, ooh no, don’t do that, it’s just not good work,” said Stevie. “I don’t want to say it’s broken, but there are cracks in the family law system that makes it really challenging to see good outcomes for people.”
* Some names have been changed for people who spoke to Guardian Australia but did not wish to be identified
In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org
