New report highlights the transformative effects of domestic abuse training on family lawyers

A report issued this week by SafeLives, a UK-wide charity working to end domestic abuse, has demonstrated the transformative impact of specialist domestic abuse training on family lawyers’ work with clients experiencing harm.  

‘Is there a human behind that?’ reveals that over three-quarters (78%) of family lawyers who have undertaken SafeLives’ new specialist domestic abuse training said it would have a profound impact on how they interact with clients; 90% now feel equipped to take a trauma-informed approach in their work with victims, survivors, and their children. This latest report also details the current state of awareness, understanding and support for victims of domestic abuse across the family court system, putting survivors’ experiences at the heart of a series of recommendations.  

SafeLives is calling on the Ministry of Justice to fund further training and put domestic abuse at the centre of its planned ‘reinvigoration’ of Local Family Justice Boards. The report also calls on law schools to ensure understanding of domestic abuse is a key feature of the family law curriculum, while encouraging solicitors’ firms, chambers, and Inns of Court to make domestic abuse training sessions available for all family lawyers.  

A clear case for domestic abuse training  

In the year to March 2022, 2.4 million adults, 1.7 million women and approximately 700,000 men, are estimated to have experienced domestic abuse. In 2022 alone, 32,049 applications were made for domestic violence remedies to the family courts - a record number.  

SafeLives’ research unveils that many family lawyers lack vital knowledge of domestic abuse and, as such, survivors are left feeling disbelieved or ignored by their legal representation and traumatised by their time in the family courts. In turn, this leads to unsafe judgements.  

In 2020, the Ministry of Justice Family Harm Panel concluded that “family courts approach domestic abuse cases inconsistently, and in some cases with harmful effects.” It made training for all participants in the family justice system a key recommendation. Echoing this, a report by the Domestic Abuse Commissioner earlier this year warned that 80% of legal practitioners felt that the Family Court is likely to retraumatise victims and survivors of domestic abuse, putting children at risk of further harm.