https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/firm-loses-out-on-costs-for-unreasonable-conduct/5124541.article

23 September 2025 by Bianca Castro

London-firm’s conduct results in refusal of some legal aid costs

[…] The mother’s ‘purported’ witness statement in the family court proceedings was written in English. The mother, the judgment in M & R (Children) (Refusal of Legal Aid Costs) said, does not speak English and communicates in Urdu. An interpreter had not gone through the document with her. The English version, when read out to the mother by her relative, was ‘replete with errors’ and ‘[did] not reflect her case’.

The judge, sitting in the family court at Leicester, said: ‘The failure of the mother’s solicitors to prepare her written evidence in accordance with Part 22 of the Family Procedure Rules and Peter Jackson J’s [as he then was] basic principles has compromised the fairness of the litigation for the mother.’ [...]