Children’s lawyers in spotlight

At least 86 complaints were made about independent children’s lawyers last year to the nation’s legal aid commissions

Jack and Jennifer Edwards.

At least 86 complaints were made about independent children’s lawyers last year to the nation’s legal aid commissions, amid claims of a potential systematic failure in governance by Legal Aid NSW.

The figure comes after The Australian revealed that an independent children’s lawyer accused of misleading the Family Court in a case involving two children later murdered by their father had been the subject of four complaints to Legal Aid NSW, according to information provided at a tribunal hearing.

The case has prompted concern about the level of oversight provided for ICLs, who are appointed to represent the best interests of children and play a key role in many family law cases.

A father, known as “Mr Rader”, who lodged one of the complaints against lawyer Debbie Morton, told the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Monday there had potentially been a “systematic failure in governance” by Legal Aid NSW.

Ms Morton’s conduct previously came under scrutiny at an inquest into the deaths of Jack and Jennifer Edwards, gunned down by their father at their Sydney home in 2018. The inquest heard she misled the Family Court — a claim she denied — when she characterised the father’s violence as “heavy-handed parenting” and failed to mention his 18-year police history of domestic violence.

Mr Rader has launched legal action at NCAT against Legal Aid to obtain information about its handling of his complaint against Ms Morton, who was appointed the ICL for his two children last year, after the Edwards children were murdered.

The Rader children were dragged unnecessarily from their beds at 2am by police officers and moved to their grandparents’ care. The full Family Court said the “drastic” order should not have been sought by the ICL or made by the judge, and caused ongoing trauma.

Legal Aid NSW has fought hard against the disclosure of information related to complaints against ICLs. It objected, but was required by NCAT senior member Stephen Montgomery to reveal it had received four complaints against Ms Morton.

NCAT heard on Monday that Ms Morton was removed from Legal Aid’s ICL panel. However, Mr Rader told NCAT he was not interviewed by Legal Aid during its complaints-handling process and was not aware of its reasons for her removal.

Ms Morton also told NCAT she was not notified that a judge had raised concerns about her conduct in the Rader case. She became aware of it during NCAT proceedings. Legal Aid objected at NCAT to disclosing how many ICL complaints a year it received.

But in response to questions from The Australian on Tuesday, a Legal Aid NSW spokeswoman said it received 37 complaints about ICLs in 2019-20. Seven, relating to three practitioners, involved serious conduct issues and were referred to the professional practices branch for investigation. Legal Aid Queensland received 30 ICL-related complaints last year, Victoria 17, South Australia two and Tasmania none. Western Australia, the Northern Territory and ACT did not provide figures by publication deadline.

National Legal Aid chair Suzan Cox QC said ICLs were appointed in the most difficult of parenting disputes and provided vital help to children.

“Lawyers must jump through many hoops to become an accredited ICL,” she said.

“It’s a specialist qualification that requires nationally-accredited training and ongoing professional development. A lawyer who wants to become an ICL must specialise in family law and have a minimum of five years’ experience in that field.”

Ms Cox said there were relatively few complaints about ICLs given the number of cases.

ICLs are appointed in about 3000 cases a year, according to an Australian Law Reform Commission report.