Dear Colleague
Members practicing in Laganside are asked to take note of the following information received from the Department of Justice in respect to an extension of the Domestic Violence Perpetrators Court.
EXTENSION OF PILOT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PERPETRATOR PROGRAMME
TO LAGANSIDE MAGISTRATES’ COURT
I am writing to advise the Law Society that the Department of Justice and the Lord Chief Justice have agreed to extend the domestic violence perpetrator programme, currently running in Londonderry Magistrate’s Court, to Laganside Magistrate’s Court.
Extending the pilot will further ensure that an appropriate number of individuals can avail of the programme and allow for a robust evaluation of the initiative. The Laganside pilot will be run on a similar basis to the current one, with it anticipated to commence around the end of October.
While a consultation on the legal aid provision will issue shortly from the Department, I would be grateful if you could also bring the extension of this initiative to relevant members of the Law Society who would be practising at Laganside.
It would be our intention, similar to the approach that was adopted in Foyle last September, to have an awareness raising session at Laganside prior to the introduction of the pilot. I will of course advise on the detail of this in due course.
As soon as further information is available it will be sent to you.