JLife’s Evangeline Spachis spoke to Lisa Baker, family law solicitor at Switalskis Solicitors, about her career and life in the Leeds Jewish community.
How did you get here?
I’m originally from Manchester. I went to university in Birmingham and after university I had to go to London to do my training to be a barrister as you could only do that in London at the time. From there I was lucky enough to get pupillage in Leicester, which is part of the training to be a barrister.
After my pupillage, I decided that being at the bar wasn’t for me and moved back to Birmingham where I lived for a number of years. In 2003, a lot of my friends were moving away from the city and I had links to friends in Leeds, which was a lot closer to family in Manchester. So I just sold my house, moved to Leeds, got a job and that was it!
What led to your decision to move into family law?
When I was a barrister I was specialising in criminal law, so I was doing a lot of advocacy and trial work. When I moved to work in Birmingham at a firm of solicitors, it was suggested that I had the right aptitude and personality to help parents and families who are facing the most stressful time in their lives. This includes the removal of children from their family and very serious allegations being made. Because I have the barrister training, I am able to represent a person, parent or family member, from the very first meeting all the way through to the court process and to the hearing in court if that that is necessary.
I represent children from newborn babies to all the way up to teenagers, and in fact at the moment, I am representing a 16-year-old mum who’s fighting an application from the local authority to adopt her baby, and she herself is a product of the care system. It is very multi-layered, and I am helping these people at a time of crisis in their family life.
Has the law changed in terms of family law during your career to date?
In 2012, there was an act of parliament called Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO), and that removed legal aid for most areas of private family law, so there is very little legal aid for that area of law.
Legislation is very important, and case law is equally important. I was at the Court of Appeal representing some children in October last year. I also did case a few weeks ago about a relinquished baby not of British nationality in which the judge had to give guidance about what the local authority is supposed to do. The law can be very intricate, but that’s effectively what I do. I cover the whole spectrum, simple cases and complex cases.
Can the judgements change lives?
There’s a young girl who did a reference for me. I started representing her five years ago when she was involved in a private law dispute with the father of one of her children, and that ended in a shared care relationship. She then moved on to form an inappropriate relationship with a young man who became physically violent, and when she had a baby with him, that baby was removed into care, and the older two children were placed with family members. She unfortunately, entered the case with none of her children in her care, but fast-forward 12 months on, she’s had some recommended therapy, she’s formed a new relationship and it looks like she’ll be able to keep the baby she’s about to have with her new partner. I’ve seen the changes in her over the years and I’ve supported her through the most traumatic times.
How do you separate yourself from the cases you work on?
I have a very supportive husband and daughter who give me the space I need to do my work. My daughter is now six, so having a child gave me a different insight into the sort of cases I deal with and the people I represent, which is invaluable. I am supported greatly by my parents who moved from Manchester to live in Leeds 18 months ago, so my mum is a great source of support. We have a good group of family and friends who all lean on each other.
Being involved in shul life and Brodetsky and as a board member at Leeds Jewish Housing Association (LJHA), it all ties in together as being part of the community and marries my work and personal life together.
Does your own faith affect the work that you do?
Fortunately there aren’t many Jewish families that I come across, but the core values of the Jewish religion, which are the strength of family and morality help me in terms of assisting the people and parents I represent. Identifying strongly as a Jewish woman, I’m not just a lawyer. Some of these people are vulnerable girls who may need a big sister, a shoulder to lean on or someone to talk to. Part of the faith teaches you how to be open and supportive and how to not be judgemental, and I have to do a lot of that in my day-to-day life.
What is a typical day like for you?
No day is typical really. I may be in court all day, I may have client meetings, visit children and I may spend the day as part of my other role as a director at Switalskis, which is overseeing our billing team.
I’m also honorary secretary and director of youth services at BHH Synagogue and a governor at Brodetsky Jewish Primary School. I can be at a governor’s meeting until 9.30pm– it’s a very busy life for me.
You were nominated for Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year recently.
I was a finalist in the Family Law category at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards (LALY) and. The LALY Awards are the only awards nationally that champion the work of solicitors and barristers who undertake legal aid work. It was a big surprise and I never expected to reach the shortlist of three.
My firm nominated me and that was supported by testimonials from clients and from judges. The voting panel were dignitaries within the legal profession, and the awards on the night were presented by Baroness Lawrence, the late Stephen Lawrence’s mother.
What does your role at BHH Synagogue entail?
I took over the running of the youth services a year ago, and what I’ve tried to do is engage more children in coming to shul and being part of shul life. This culminated in a very successful shabbaton that I organised with the help of other members of the executive. We had three generations of families sitting together for a Shabbat meal, awards for the juniors and a very interesting speaker in Rabbi Andrew Shaw of Mizrachi UK. I’m an honorary executive of the shul, so I assist with the day-to-day running of BHH too.
What is your favourite thing about being a solicitor?
The variety. Because of the nature of the work, I can get a phone call at 1.30pm for an emergency hearing asking me to go to court straight away and represent a child. Or sometimes, I’ll have a hearing for three weeks in October that I have to work towards.
Had you always wanted to work in the law?
This is a silly story, but when I was aged 11 at King David, there was a tree planting ceremony for Anatoly (Natan) Sharansky, who at the time was a prisoner of war. The head girl at King David fell ill, and the deputy head girl was too nervous to replace her, so I was asked to step in. I went along with the English teacher, wrote a speech and within a few hours I was in Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester planting this tree. In the rush we had forgotten to ring my parents to tell them that I was going to do this, so when the headmaster rang my mum to apologise and say how wonderful I’d been, he said I that I’d make a brilliant barrister. I said: “What’s a barrister?”, so we looked it up, and that was it. That what I was meant to be.