AN INCREASE in the need for family and child law advice brought on by pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic, has led to a new appointment at an Oswestry's solicitors.

GHP Legal has appointed Lucy Vaughan as an additional child care solicitor to its family team.

Lucy joins after working for six years within the legal services safeguarding children team at Cheshire West and Chester Council, and will work three days a week helping parents in care proceedings and the public law outline process.

After graduating from University of Chester with a first class LLB (law degree), Lucy completed her Legal Practice Course at the College of Law, Christleton, with a distinction, and subsequently undertook a two-year training contract with a firm of solicitors in the West Midlands where she gained experience mainly in family and child care law.

While doing her degree Lucy trained as a generalist advisor at the Citizens Advice Bureau, volunteering once a week providing advice to the community on a variety of issues. During her time at the College of Law, Christleton, she volunteered with the National Centre for Domestic Violence, obtaining injunctions for victims of domestic violence. It was Lucy’s volunteer work that led to her passion for child care law.

GHP Legal partner, Alison Peters, who heads up the family team at the firm’s Oswestry branch, said: “As one of the largest family teams in the region we are highly experienced in all children issues and appreciate only too well the difficulties that some parents face. We know from the drastic increase in the number of care proceedings in the family courts over the past eighteen months, that COVID-19 has played a part in creating some very serious issues.

“To have Lucy on the team at such a busy time, with her passion and expertise in the area of child care law, is great for us and for our clients.

"Fortunately, Legal Aid is still available for care proceedings, so parents need not hesitate to seek advice and representation if they need it.”