Personal Action Plans: evaluating self-management initiatives in family law

Abstract

Personal Action Plans (PAPs) have been used to encourage client self-management within healthcare services, and are a novel innovation within legal services. This paper examines the use of PAPs by publicly funded family lawyers in England and Wales. It was intended that PAPs were written collaboratively between lawyers and clients in order to assist clients to clarify and resolve issues independently, and aid referrals to other service providers. Whereas self-management initiatives work best when service providers take a client-aligned approach, our research demonstrates that the PAPs were used as a means of managing clients’ expectations. We conclude by suggesting that while PAPs and other forms of self-management tools may work well in healthcare, they have limited potential in the provision of legal services for family law clients.

Outsourcing Legal Aid in the Nordic Welfare States

“…7 Looking at each of the exprisoners' legal problems in isolation would unquestionably draw a picture of a disadvantaged group: social workers specialising in social security legislation would, for example, advise the ex-prisoners on their social security issues and help them file for social security benefit and other subsidies; legal debt advisors would advise them to ask creditors for a reprieve, or help them seek debt relief; social workers specialising in social housing legislation would look for temporary accommodation and put the ex-prisoner's name down for a council flat or the like. 8 If we stick to this 'traditional' approach, where legal workers primarily pursue objective facts, it may give rise to a case within their legal domain (Mather et al 1995, p. 289;Mather et al 2001;Eekelaar et al 2000;Melville and Laing 2008). However, if the cross-legal and non-legal problems and subjective experiential realities of the ex-prisoners' lives are ignored, potential solutions may come up short in bettering the ex-prisoners' living situation in the long term.…”

“…Without abandoning the multi-agency approach Melville and Laing, however, concluded that lawyers may not be the most suitable gatekeeper of different legal and non-legal support services. On the basis of their findings, they addressed some important considerations about the gatekeepers' qualifications and professional background, and questioned whether there was a need for not just one gatekeeper but for multiple pathways (Melville and Laing 2010, p. 186; see also Melville and Laing 2008;Courmaerlos et al 2006). These considerations were (unknowingly) challenged in the EXODUS (ex-offenders discharged under supervision) programme introducing inter-agency collaboration of core agencies catering for ex-prisoners at the same location in Southeast England (Wood et al 2009).…”

Ex-prisoners’ Need for Legal Aid in Denmark

“…8 If we stick to this 'traditional' approach, where legal workers primarily pursue objective facts, it may give rise to a case within their legal domain (Mather et al 1995, p. 289;Mather et al 2001;Eekelaar et al 2000;Melville and Laing 2008). However, if the cross-legal and non-legal problems and subjective experiential realities of the ex-prisoners' lives are ignored, potential solutions may come up short in bettering the ex-prisoners' living situation in the long term.…”

“…Without abandoning the multi-agency approach Melville and Laing, however, concluded that lawyers may not be the most suitable gatekeeper of different legal and non-legal support services. On the basis of their findings, they addressed some important considerations about the gatekeepers' qualifications and professional background, and questioned whether there was a need for not just one gatekeeper but for multiple pathways (Melville and Laing 2010, p. 186; see also Melville and Laing 2008;Courmaerlos et al 2006). These considerations were (unknowingly) challenged in the EXODUS (ex-offenders discharged under supervision) programme introducing inter-agency collaboration of core agencies catering for ex-prisoners at the same location in Southeast England (Wood et al 2009).…”

“He did everything he possibly could for me”: medical malpractice claimants’ experiences of lawyer–client relations

“…Lawyers have been shown to restrict the engagement of clients to the provision of factual information, limit discussion to a narrow focus on legal issues, only involve clients in decision-making when it is absolutely necessary, and present a limited range of options (e.g. Blumberg, 1967;Skolnick, 1967;Rosenthal, 1974;Hosticka, 1979;Bogoch & Danet, 1984;Simon, 1988;Mather et al, 1995;McConville & Mirsky, 1995;Pepper, 1995;Michelson, 2006;Kozin, 2007;Melville & Laing, 2008, 2010.…”