Debra Morris

The impact of cuts in legal aid funding on charities

This article focusses on the specific impact of the cuts in legal aid funding on the charitable sector. The sector plays a significant role in advice giving. Some charities have the provision of legal advice as their sole purpose, whilst the work of other charities includes the giving of legal advice. Funding comes via a number of sources including legal aid, local authorities and charitable trusts. Whilst this volume highlights the legal aid reforms that will lead to significant cuts in funding, this article notes that charitable providers of legal advice have also suffered major cuts from their other traditional funding sources. Against this background, the article considers the serious and often unforeseen consequences for charities of the legal aid reforms, which go far beyond the impact on the high street law firm and access to justice for claimants.

The Equality Act 2010 Five years on

Davies, C., Ferreira, N., Morris, D., & Morris, N.,The Equality Act 2010: Five years on. International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, 16 (2-3), 61-65. Copyright

Building a big society: will charity's creeping reach generate a new paradigm for state schools?

The traditional distinctions between state schools and fee-charging independent schools have been challenged over the years, with charitable status at the core of the crossover. The changing relationship between the state and charitable sectors and the resultant blurring of the dividing line between them leads us to examine the role that charities now play within the coalition governments Big Society agenda. In the context of schools, a new paradigm, acknowledging the profoundly significant contribution of charity to state schools, is suggested, and evidence is provided to support this new paradigm by way of two waves. The previous and the current government have embraced charitable provision, such that it is now deeply embedded within state education. Charity-led community involvement in education services may well come to dominate rather than simply back up state provision and this leads us to question the distinction between those schools with and those without charitable status.

Surety Wives in the House of Lords: Time forSolicitors to `Get Real'?Royal Bank of Scotland plc v. Etridge (No. 2) [2001] 4 All E.R. 449

This note considers the recent House of Lordsdecision in Royal Bank of Scotland plc. v.Etridge (No. 2). It concerns the familiarscenario of a wife jointly mortgaging (orproviding a guarantee for a mortgage of) thefamily home in order to secure financialsupport for a business run by her husband. Ina landmark judgement, Lord Nicholls set out newand specific procedures to be followed bylenders and solicitors who are providingindependent advice, in order to counter anyargument by the wife that the charge should beset aside because her signature on the lenderscharge has been obtained by the undue influenceof her husband. This note considers the impactof the decision upon the parties involved insuch transactions. Special consideration isgiven to the surety wife and her chances ofdefending possession proceedings brought bylenders in the post Etridge era.

Strengthening charity regulation in England and Wales? The Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 and the impact of academic witnesses

Research on charity regulation is frequently triggered by charity law developments. However, it is often unclear what impact such research has on policy makers and parliamentarians shaping charity regulation. Both authors of this paper were called to give evidence to the Parliamentary Joint Committee examining the draft Bill that led to the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016. We review the possible impact of our evidence on the ultimate Act and on charity regulation more broadly.

Adopting (in)equality in the UK: the Equality Act 2010 and its impact on charities

This article considers the relationship between the Equality Act 2010 and the Charities Act 2011 (in Scotland, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005) in the context of adoption by same-sex couples and the complex exceptions to the Equality Act that charities may be able to rely upon in order to continue to discriminate. It concludes that the law is confusing to the point of opacity, to the detriment of those seeking to exercise their rights and those called on to adjudicate conflicts.