Uploaded August 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
BOOK REVIEW
COURT OF PROTECTION PRACTICE 2023
With CD
Consulting editor: Gordon R. Ashton OBE
ISBN 978 1 78473 490 9
LEXISNEXIS/ FAMILY LAW
lexisnexis.co.uk
THE MOST DURABLE OF THE COURT OF PROTECTION TITLES -- NOW IN A NEW AND COMPLETELY UPDATED EDITION
An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor MA of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”, and Mediator
____________________________________________________
For lawyers and advisers involved in issues relating to the Court of Protection, the publishing pedigree of this definitive text will likely be worthy of note in itself.
As Consulting Editor, Gordon Ashton explained in his preface to the first edition of 2009, people who lacked mental capacity prior to that date existed in what he refers to as ‘a legal vacuum’ in which the mentally disabled ‘were obliged to exist.’
It apparently took at least twenty years and a succession of governments to initiate legislation with would ultimately effect change. Fundamentally, it was a gradual yet dramatic change in social attitudes which brought about the Mental Capacity Act 2005 which led to the establishment of the then new Court of Protection. This key development, as Gordon Ashton points out -- provided ‘nominated judges’... a ‘best interests approach’...and ‘a regional presence’ within this area of law.
Fast forward to the present and note the publication by LexisNexis of this new edition of ‘Court of Protection Practice 2023’. Notice also, as the editor notes, the considerably changed society which has emerged, particularly in attitudes to disability in its various forms, noting for example, that ‘societal and political attitudes to disability shifted remarkably during the 20th century’ when emphasis on “control” of “defective” populations gradually changed for the better into an emphasis on care and citizenship.
But despite the resulting trends in favour of removing disability barriers and addressing discrimination issues, disabled people -- as the editors point out -- still experience ‘disadvantage and stigma in England and Wales.’ ‘Older people,’ they add, ‘can also face difficult circumstances in today’s Britain, especially those without private pensions.' But ‘the most important change,' as they observe, is ‘the increasing diversity mirrored by the case load of the Court of Protection.’
It is important to note that the new edition of this definitive work provides invaluable guidance to practitioners, plus access to ‘all the essential materials needed to practice in the Court of Protection,’ including standard forms, guidance notes, case summaries, international materials and of course, much more.
Navigation too, is straightforward. Note both the basic table of contents and the detailed table of contents -- minutely detailed in fact. And both the pages and the paragraphs are precisely numbered throughout. Note too, that the final two chapters cover Scotland and Northern Ireland.
For practitioners in this complex and sensitive area of law, whether experienced or relatively inexperienced, this distinguished and authoritative text -- with a status akin to its sister publication ‘The Family Court Practice’ -- is indisputably an essential purchase.
The date of publication of this new annual hardback edition for 2023 is cited as 25th May 2023.
BOOK REVIEW
COURT OF PROTECTION PRACTICE 2023
With CD
Consulting editor: Gordon R. Ashton OBE
ISBN 978 1 78473 490 9
LEXISNEXIS/ FAMILY LAW
lexisnexis.co.uk
THE MOST DURABLE OF THE COURT OF PROTECTION TITLES -- NOW IN A NEW AND COMPLETELY UPDATED EDITION
An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor MA of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”, and Mediator
____________________________________________________
For lawyers and advisers involved in issues relating to the Court of Protection, the publishing pedigree of this definitive text will likely be worthy of note in itself.
As Consulting Editor, Gordon Ashton explained in his preface to the first edition of 2009, people who lacked mental capacity prior to that date existed in what he refers to as ‘a legal vacuum’ in which the mentally disabled ‘were obliged to exist.’
It apparently took at least twenty years and a succession of governments to initiate legislation with would ultimately effect change. Fundamentally, it was a gradual yet dramatic change in social attitudes which brought about the Mental Capacity Act 2005 which led to the establishment of the then new Court of Protection. This key development, as Gordon Ashton points out -- provided ‘nominated judges’... a ‘best interests approach’...and ‘a regional presence’ within this area of law.
Fast forward to the present and note the publication by LexisNexis of this new edition of ‘Court of Protection Practice 2023’. Notice also, as the editor notes, the considerably changed society which has emerged, particularly in attitudes to disability in its various forms, noting for example, that ‘societal and political attitudes to disability shifted remarkably during the 20th century’ when emphasis on “control” of “defective” populations gradually changed for the better into an emphasis on care and citizenship.
But despite the resulting trends in favour of removing disability barriers and addressing discrimination issues, disabled people -- as the editors point out -- still experience ‘disadvantage and stigma in England and Wales.’ ‘Older people,’ they add, ‘can also face difficult circumstances in today’s Britain, especially those without private pensions.' But ‘the most important change,' as they observe, is ‘the increasing diversity mirrored by the case load of the Court of Protection.’
It is important to note that the new edition of this definitive work provides invaluable guidance to practitioners, plus access to ‘all the essential materials needed to practice in the Court of Protection,’ including standard forms, guidance notes, case summaries, international materials and of course, much more.
Navigation too, is straightforward. Note both the basic table of contents and the detailed table of contents -- minutely detailed in fact. And both the pages and the paragraphs are precisely numbered throughout. Note too, that the final two chapters cover Scotland and Northern Ireland.
For practitioners in this complex and sensitive area of law, whether experienced or relatively inexperienced, this distinguished and authoritative text -- with a status akin to its sister publication ‘The Family Court Practice’ -- is indisputably an essential purchase.
The date of publication of this new annual hardback edition for 2023 is cited as 25th May 2023.
