\u201cWhen I hear the news that another woman is dead, I almost get palpitations, I\u2019m thinking: \u2018Please don\u2019t let it be my client,\u2019\u201d says family law solicitor Sandra McAleer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m also thinking: \u2018Please don\u2019t let it be my client who did it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
McAleer has acted for many women violently assaulted, in some cases killed, by partners or former partners. She has also represented men who are either victims of domestic violence or the perpetrators of it. <\/p>\n
\u201cSome cases still get to me, I\u2019ve had cases that ended in death, I\u2019ve attended funerals,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do sometimes wonder could I have done something that would have helped to stop that. I\u2019ve been horrified by what some people can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Family law is difficult for all involved, with much at stake. Whether it is domestic violence, access or custody disputes over children, separation or divorce, it is often fraught with heightened emotions.<\/p>\n
Over almost 20 years acting for clients in the family District Court complex in Dolphin House, the redbrick corner building located in Temple Bar in the heart of Dublin city centre, McAleer has experienced intimidation, warnings and even death threats.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen things don\u2019t work out, some people turn on the lawyers. Some are really bad, I\u2019ve voice recordings of a man outside Dolphin House threatening to have me executed. I\u2019ve had posters threatening me put up along the quays,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
A man currently serving a prison sentence for a serious crime involving his partner threatened \u201cto bring me up the mountains\u201d, she adds.<\/p>\n
Other family law colleagues have also received threats, including a female barrister who had a plastic knife held against her throat by a prisoner. <\/p>\n
McAleer was in Dolphin House in December 2015 when Judge Miriam Walsh was violently assaulted<\/a> by a man during a hearing concerning his elderly parents\u2019 application for a safety order against him.<\/p>\n Garda\u00ed now maintain a permanent presence in the complex and visitors must pass through a security screening. <\/p>\n Unlike many colleagues, McAleer, from Balbriggan in north Co Dublin, has no family background in law. <\/p>\n Her father was a butcher and she grew up in a council house with parents who instilled in her a strong work ethic. \u201cNothing was ever handed to me on a plate,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n If an unmarried father is looking for access, it can take … a full year by the time the case is processed. That\u2019s one year of a child not seeing their dad. It can have a huge impact on how the child feels about seeing them at all<\/p>\n She studied hard and changed her mind about being an architect when she got enough points in her Leaving Certificate to study law and business. <\/p>\n Along the way, she played rugby and has 65 caps for Leinster and two for Ireland. <\/p>\n McAleer logged her first family court experience in Dolphin House when working for a solicitor in Raheny on Dublin\u2019s northside and later moved to another firm in Baggot Street in the south city centre where the focus was on conveyancing. <\/p>\n After the property crash, she built up a speciality in family law. <\/p>\n \u201cEveryone was separating \u2013 when the money goes, the love follows,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n After returning from maternity leave in 2010, she set up on her own. <\/p>\n \u201cI was working in Dolphin House, I started with maybe four to five files a week and it kept getting busier and busier,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Her firm prospered and legal aid family law work now accounts for under half of its business, which also includes private family law, probate and conveyancing. <\/p>\n McAleer is the top earner in the State from legal aid family work, with recent earnings of about \u20ac500,000 annually. <\/p>\n Out of that, she points out, she employs 14 people, paid \u20ac70,000 to a team of barristers, runs an office and pays insurance, along with all the other expenses of running a legal business.<\/p>\n Most clients are \u201cthe man, and woman, on the street\u201d and other clients are referred to her by domestic violence refuges and the domestic violence charities Women\u2019s Aid and Men\u2019s Aid.<\/p>\n McAleer is among a group of solicitors and barristers who warned this month they will withdraw from family legal aid work unless the Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan<\/a> responds \u201cmeaningfully\u201d to their call for a fees increase and reform of a \u201ccrumbling\u201d family legal aid system.<\/p>\n Legal fees are in focus right now. The Minister is embroiled in a separate dispute with criminal defence solicitors<\/a> \u2013 unconnected with family law cases \u2013 where he is cutting legal aid paid by the State, introducing a flat-fee payment per client rather than paying solicitors for each court appearance.<\/p>\n In family law cases, legal aid payments are structured differently and cover work under three acts that deal with: guardianship\/access\/custody; maintenance; and domestic violence.<\/p>\n The pay rates, unchanged over 20 years, range from \u20ac339 for a single application for one client under one act, such as for access, to \u20ac423 for two applications under two different acts, and up to \u20ac518 for three applications under three acts. <\/p>\n \u201cYou could have 10 summonses under one act, or an access row going on for nine months, but you still only get \u20ac339,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n The average fee for a private solicitor for a family law appearance is \u20ac800 to \u20ac1,500, she adds. <\/p>\n Family legal aid lawyers feel \u201clet down and underappreciated\u201d, she says. <\/p>\n