FNF Scotland: Both Parents Matter has been listed as a finalist in the Community Contribution category of the 2019 Scottish Legal Awards.
Our entry focuses on the network of pro bono solicitors we have built up over the years who give their time to attend our six monthly meetings across Scotland. Every meeting now has at least one solicitor in attendance to give general information about family law and procedures. Because of the growing numbers coming to our Edinburgh and Glasgow groups we often have two solicitors.
Ian Maxwell, FNF Scotland national manager, says, “We are delighted at being listed among the finalists. Even to get that far is recognition of the value of our efforts in creating a connection between volunteer solicitors and people who come to us who are feeling lost in the aftermath of family breakup or separation.
We see it as an additional form of access to justice which simply did not exist in family law previusly.
The solicitors who attend tell us they also learn a great deal from what they hear at the groups we run monthly in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Striling, Paisley and Dundee. Most group attendees are separated fathers but we also support separated mothers, grandparents, new partners and wider family members.
It looks like the Community Contribution category will be one of the most keenly contested in the Scottish Legal Awards. We wish all the finalists well.”
The Awards will be announced at an event on Tursday 31st March in Glasgow. FNF Scotland currently has more than 30 Scottish lawyers helping us at our group meetings and we would welcome any other family law solicitor who wishes to help us in this way – contact Ian Maxwell for more details.