Working Families; An issue kept well hidden

I'm sure those of you who follow me on social media are aware that I spent the last two months overseas, two weeks of which I was privileged to spend with a charity called working families.

My desk at working families :)

Working families is a charity aimed specifically individuals who are either caring for children or other sick individuals. Their bases currently only exist in Scotland and England but their work has been monumental to climbing over the wall of difficulties that both men and women face in the work place. It is steadily becoming a symbol of workplace flexibility which multiple studies have proven increases productivity [http://www.forbes.com/sites/ccl/2011/06/29/flexibility-can-boost-employee-productivity/#75eaa5b25d04]

My initial thoughts about the charity were that they would provide legal advice to all those who called on their hotline [0300 012 0312 ] however I quickly discovered their efforts were far greater and more diverse. Within the two weeks that I spent there I helped organize networking events, think tanks, policy presentations and research compositions. It was a massive variety and I can only say that the members within the office of working families had an adept ability to switch from paper work to practical work. I found my self constantly amazed by their empathy, communication and legal knowledge. Continuously the members were grounded, practical and realistic as they dealt with the problems of the modern workplace.

Some of the general issues included:

• Helping with employer/employee relations
• Explaining rights to leave, sick leave and other benefits
• Analyzing potential discrimination cases
• Assisting individuals in continuing work place progression
• Decoding some of the work-related benefits

Those who live in any country where benefit schemes are enforced will know their complex nature. Yet Working Families manages to decode some of the broader issues of the new welfare policy Universal Credit [http://www.workingfamilies.org.uk/articles/869/]. At a policy presentation Working Families stood for the ability of low income families to have access not only to jobs but to quality child care.

Too often hard working employees are forced to turn down jobs that offer them more responsibility and pay because the jobs have less flexibility and mean that individuals lose out on benefits. This benefit loss can have the consequence of costing more than they are earning. Unfortunately research [http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35475350] shows the startling truth that Universal Credit is dropping off key benefits and losing that practical aspect of welfare.

Key reasons that families lose money is because;

• Child care is too expensive
• They lose flexibility increasing the need for extra care
• Often gain expenses like eating out and more travel

Additionally without support families may face;

• increased levels of stress
• decreased time together
• Higher levels of anxiety
• relationship/life dissatisfaction

Interestingly one of the conferences I attended with Working Families highlighted that money was not the only factor influencing a families' ability to progress up a career ladder. After several focus groups the culmination of the responses revealed that families are craving more family time. Money is no longer a driving force of work. Yes it's a relevant factor but the study revealed that if more money sacrificed time with each other- progression in terms of pay increase loses out.

A policy conference with Working Families 

This need to spend time with family should not be looked upon as a factor of 'laziness'. Families, particularly those in financial hardship, often pull close together and form strong bonds. These relationships are vital for children to build strong foundations as they move into the future and for the healing of sick relatives. Some families are also facing the potential loss of sick relatives, meaning that money is not as valuable as time.

In this modern world we are seeing an increased value upon time, particularly time that can be spent with those we love. Working Families is striving to work with both employers and employees asa vital middle man that can strike up the right balance between the two.

The universal credit scheme was invented to produce a welfare scheme that did not punish individuals for being out of work. It attempts to understand the new value of family time and the issues face the 'sandwich' generation, where families are both caring for children and sick or elderly relatives. While it attempts to ensure that nobody will live off welfare for longer than necessary it supports the often tiresome and difficult transition between welfare and work. This is beneficial because;

• Provides families with some respite when in financial trouble
• Allows families to care without bringing in external help which can be expensive
• Prevents individuals from being exploited while searching for a job
• Provides people with dignity and pride
• Allows for families to save while progressing through below minimum wage jobs and support themselves in an emergency rather than falling back to where they were

On welfare it is difficult to save money therefore giving people the opportunity to earn a little more as their welfare slowly decreases allows individuals to save some money. Savings provide financial security and comfort – which has been proven in the past to make people feel more comfortable and to stress less.

Multiple times I have discussed the impact of stress on the body. It not only causes many expansive physiological issues such as adrenal, heart and liver failure. These issues can tax already over worked families, causing child carers, sick carers or vulnerable individuals greater issues.

Stress has also been linked to psychological issues and outbursts. Anxiety, clinical depression and disorders such as schizophrenia or bi-polar are frequently connected to high stress levels. It is clear that stress can be minimized when fiscal stability is present. Although it is not the only factor in these issues.

The use of fiscal stability refers to the presence of these factors

• Ability to pay bills as and when they fall due
• The ability to afford food that is of reasonable quality
• The ability to pay for some extra curricular costs such as eat-out food, entertainment or luxury service (massage, facial)*
• To be comfortable with financial ability to prepare or repair any necessity equipment such as laundry machine, dish washing machine or light bulbs
• Some ability to save (eg. To save 10% of earning) and still pay bills

* For families with children this is especially important because young children often like to participate in extra curricular classes such as dance, basketball, surfing or martial arts. These classes can tax financially strained families, sometimes causing social awkwardness for young children. While it is understandable that there must be some cuts to extracurricular activities it's reasonable to allow every person the opportunity to relax through one non-necessity service.

It is undoubted that if England wishes to encourage progression they must inspire financial stability. Financial stability is the way to encourage individuals to aspire. Unless the general populace feels that by accepting a job with higher levels of responsibility and better pay they will not lose out but gain valuable experience and satisfaction there will never be any progression. Other countries have also witnessed higher levels of productivity when minimum wage is at a 'living' level.

The steadtler pens in the top left corner actually
became very popular around the office

I will note here that organizations have raised the alert that minimum wage is the 'average' cost of living for the entire nation. It is important to know that a single person family will be able to live of the minimum wage comfortably while a family with two children will struggle. As lawyers it's important we don't pre-judge other families expecting that they can support themselves on minimum wage. Depending on circumstances it may not always be viable.

I would encourage young aspiring lawyers and current legal professionals to explore the website [http://www.workingfamilies.org.uk/] and consider becoming a Change Maker or registered donor today. The charity is constantly expanding the areas in which it works – working as a empathetic policy union that promotes for the well being of employees and employers rather than higher pay and lesser hours. It's difficult to summarize the exact issues that Working Families deals with because they are so dynamic and do respond quickly to the changing issues within the work place.

Uniquely the charity is also recognizing the growing paternal expectations for young fathers. Some closely related organizations that Working Families has connected with researched the growth in child-minding fathers. It was found that while women are still predominantly the primary carers, males were taking a larger interest in the primary care role for children. Currently men are limited in their ability to take over this role as prejudice is beginning to turn away from women and back towards men. Although males were noted to spend more time doing 'fun' things with children while women completed more domestic tasks.

In a study by [https://aifs.gov.au/publications/family-matters/issue-37/achieving-family-supportive-workplace-and-community] it was discovered that women felt more able to disrupt their working day to tend to a sick child then men. After further investigation it was concluded that often the work place culture was the leading factor in this feeling. While corporations may present a face of gender equality the reality for many males is that when they disrupt work for a child they often feel that their work is at risk.

Working Families is still trying to explore the extent of this cultural phenomenon. I hope soon I will be able to revisit the topic and provide a more comprehensive analysis of the new work-place prejudice. Although perhaps soon with support of Working Families the picture will present more equality and less gender bias for in this day and age woman are no longer primary carers, they are merely one of the two primary carers.

Lulu Hensman

The legal loophole that leaves our society condemned to repeat its mistakes forever

Article 1 of the Genocide Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide makes all signatories liable for not taking actions to prevent genocide. Parties confirm that “genocide whether committed in peacetime or war is a crime under the international law which they undertake to prevent and punish.”

Despite the clear confirmation and intention contained withing the convention there is no direct mention about whether suppressing information about genocide is illegal. Although in Article VIII it is mentioned that a contracting party can call upon the UN for prevention and suppression of acts of genocide it is highly ineffective.

The ineffective nature of this clause is made clear through today's present circumstances because in the tumultuous political arena in which we all live what single nation is willing to lose their current stake hold for a potentially worse diplomatic position than before?

Obviously none. Hence all countries will maintain silence in order to retain their diplomatic relations with each other.

While some may believe that the mere omission of a genocide such as that witnessed in Turkey during and after the Armenian Genocide (reference point Geoffrey Robertson, An Inconvenient Genocide) is not a criminal endeavor, it is criminal to the extent that it is similar top proclaiming that the genocide never occurred. Should the genocide never have occurred according to global history then individuals would still feel at liberty to segregate and persecute portions of the community in order to create a Utopian society.

Education on such events are vital for the development of the general populace's understanding of human treatment around the world and how this treatment does not differ in peace time or war time. While some inhumane treatment may appear to be unlawful through commonsense in many instances inhumane treatment has been disguised under war or political actions.

For example, recently Donald Trump an American presidential candidate declared that all Muslims were to barred from entering the country. In previous eras patriotism and national security would preside over any discrimination regardless of how it may segregate or be unfairly based. The change in behavior towards the statement by Donald Trump can be linked to increased publications and education on genocides such as Rwanda and the Holocaust. Both situations have made clear the need to minimize the discriminative power politicians have over countries.

Therefore why do we allow the failure to education about genocide to be an undetected crime against humanity?

As a major loophole in the already loose foundations of international law the act of omitting or denying genocide rears its ugly head. In some countries such as Turkey the denial of genocide (in this circumstance the Armenian Genocide) is so severe that even historians can't quantify an approximate number of victims.

In fact the perversion of history has extended so far that it has poisoned the Turkish legal system. Under Article 301 the Turkish Penal Code any citizen found to insult Turkey by acknowledging the Armenian Genocide can be imprisoned or otherwise punished. This blatant condemnation of human sympathisers only further proves the long lasting and damaging influence of denying the existence of genocide. Case law from around Turkey, and other similarly governed countries, suggests that the penal code application is more subjective than legally objective leaving a lot of room to question Turkey's ability to fend off attacks on its human rights. Clearly genocide denial has long running influence that can lead to a devastated nation and global community all fighting to retain the right to an education that prevents the loss of respect for human life regardless of race, religion, gender or sexual preference

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it -George  

The issue with Australian directors

Being a director means more than coffee and cake!

The types of directors and the pools from which they are drawn from clearly lack diversity, new reports from Australia propose. Recruitment firm, Blenheim Partners' Gregort Robinson & Dr Brett Wright in Macquarie University found that failure to consider more than gender diversity on a board of directors is significantly limiting the pool of potential directors and employee career prospects.
conjunction with

Moreover the study found that directors are now operating generally only within an employee capacity. This means that they operate as necessary to maintain capacity. This means that they operate as necessary to maintain their jobs. As a consequence business ventures with greater risks are often rejected by big firms looking to invest. Clearly Australia which is already isolated from other economies is suffering from this complete lack of risky business venture.

The report also suggested that directors were now operating more as business employees than actual representatives of a company. As a consequence we have lost the 'arms and legs' of the business personality and instead employed a variety of guards that keep the business afloat instead of growing.

In Australian business law (contained within several pieces of legislation, particularly the Australian Competition and Consumer law – also please note it is accompanied by much common and case law) there is a legal principal known as the 'veil' this veil exists between a business and its operators. Of course, a business in order to have a usable veil must be incorporated – meaning that the original sole trader or partners extract themselves from the heart of the business in order to manifest as new body which is a non-human trading individual.

For example if I started my own sole tradership called The Underage Lawyer's Coffee, the simplest form of business, I could later incorporate it. In doing so, any debts or profits or trade agreements become part of my financial status. Once the business is incorporated the business becomes a company but it then takes on the ability to create and finish its own contracts.

Yet every person knows a company can not act by itself, hence directors become the metaphorical limbs of the new business body. Hence when a company only operates within the movements necessary to ensure the continuation of the business into the fortune. Clearly many businesses will prefer to remain in business than to look for the means by which they can increase their wealth or support innovation.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics suggests that Australia has lowering levels of innovation in key industries such as manufacturing and retail. This decrease has ongoing rollover effects on employment and living standards. Many people may not stop to consider the overall impact of investment – but programs such as crowdsurf or kickstarter highlight the importance of investment in innovative – although non-traditional- business concepts.

Clearly products such as the pebble smart watch, android gaming console (Ouya) and MaKey Makey would not exist without such support. These products are some of the great stepping stones for our economy to reach increased levels of commericial innovation. Where Australia falls in this support is that our directors are not looking for how to use the company as a means of bettering not only their affiliates significantly but to advantage the surrounding economic climate.

Many business and legal experts have dubbed the phenomenon of helping non-affiliates to better the economic climate corporate philanthropy. While probably closer to patronism in some ways it is a means of advantaging the economy for long term benefit.

This is most likely unpopular with today's director boards because in their capacity as directors they are working constantly to keep their job.

The reasonable person would assume that given directors should only operate for the good of the company by operating in their own interest they are actually failing their duty to the company. Of course with Australia's tight laws on corporate negligence it is often difficult to prove that taking a risk on innovative investments was for the reasonable benefit of the company. But directors must first become the limbs of the company and not its employees. Once this has been achieved the law of Australia can change to provide room for innovative investment.

Given that it will be difficult to prove that the investment made by a company was for purposes of helping a potentially beneficial innovation to enter the market – as fraudulent schemes are often covered by such reason – the government or business industry supervisor must create a certificate of authentication for whatever businesses are recommending themselves to investors. Similar to when a company enters the stock exchange a series of papers and tests and regulations must be performed to ensure that there is no fraudulent behavior existing while the business presents itself to business.

Factors that would be important for the government to consider when forming this scheme: 

1. the leader of the business
2. results previous dealings
3. current capital
4. financial situation
5. Applicability of suggestion
6. Potential sales
7. Any limitations
8. Potential issues/dangers
9. Any necessary certificates
10. Connections or affiliations however small to other businesses.

Australia has much work to do in order to draw in a new breed of businesses. The businesses required would be companies that work with a diverse board of directors who collate their view points in order to manipulate the movements of the larger enterprise. These movements must comprehend the importance of supporting the economic climate and creating a philanthropic culture that perpetuates innovation and entrepreneurship.

What does it mean to persevere?

There's something that I don't think I've covered nearly enough in my blog. It's something that all young lawyers need to know - what perseverance means.

Traditionally we think that perseverance means to continue working where we feel that we have a passion and a goal. Many people believe that perseverance involves doggedly working towards an aspect of our lives that we feel that we should succeed in. They believe that it's a habit of successful people and unsuccessful people lack perseverance.

sometimes the road ahead seems daunting

But is that all perseverance is?

We read about perseverance in self-help books and write that we 'persevere' in linkedin profiles. But do we truly understand the weight of the word?

In my belief the above isn't what perseverance means, it's a part of it- but perseverance really means building an internal strength. When I think of perseverance; I think of the word as it refers to a passion and a belief that succeeds all emotional and physical hurt, setbacks and other distractions in order to realize a continuing journey of maturity. It's not a mere skill or buzzword. It's a hard and painful lesson that we develop as we mature in our lives and 

It is often a painful experience because perseverance can only exist where there have been failures. You cannot persevere where you have only ever succeeded because that is merely success. To know how to continue working even during the most harrowing of situations is a level of maturity and true perseverance that all lawyers must possess.

Young lawyers especially must work to develop this as the law is a field that demands someone of strong spirit and rationale. While many jokes (particularly in Australia) are shared about lawyers and their wages we must not forget the emotional devastation that is a reality for many judges and lawyers.

It particularly struck me when meeting a chief magistrate in Australia, that the law requires great emotional strength from each legal representative. The magistrate spoke solemnly of the people he had sent to jail and those he had given a second chance. He was teary as he spoke and I could have joined him as I realized the gravity of the sentences given for many were life sentences in disguise remorsefully given.

One story explained that a homeless middle-aged man, living in the streets and raised in an abusive home, had used a bottle to knock out a service station attendee and stole $25. The small amount of money taken from the till was intended for food. Unfortunately the man was shaking so badly he couldn't walk or escape the scene of the crime. The police arrived quickly and the man was taken into custody.

His motivation for doing the crime?

'I hadn't eaten in three days...I was either going to steal something or kill myself.' The statement from any other person would seem over exaggerated, perhaps even falsified. But it was clear this was the reality for that man. His home life was described as shattering and it was clear his chances of getting a job after dropping out in year seven were few. But still the man was sent to prison for two years.

The sentence may appear minimal but prison can have a devastating effect on our vulnerable groups. Not only does it brutalize many people but it leads to difficulty in finding a job and building relationships both vital components of building a stable home life

So how can you continue to aim and strive for a just and equitable world when it is clear our system is fraught with issues?

Perseverance has taught us to take little steps, to continuously balance out our achievements with our

sometimes a hot drink is just enough to get us through

failures. Most importantly perseverance has taught us to fight through the sea of our failure to reach for our success.

For a long time I struggled with the desire to become a lawyer. Why would I want to become a part of a world where a man with no opportunity will be treated harsher than a man with many? How could I fight against a system that is so set against those who are helpless that even magistrates and judges feel powerless to fight against it? Surely as a mere under aged and beginning lawyer my contribution – any contribution – would be like offering a crumb to a group of starving elephants.

I'm no philosopher, but I have decided that I have reached a conclusion. In-eloquently put; there are many things in the world that are unbalanced. Some of these things are heartbreaking, the way that we view criminals and the disadvantaged. The way that we segregate based on religion, wealth or race. Yet, it is only when, among all of the disappointment, breakdowns and failures, that we continue to strive and persevere to effect some kind of change that we actually create change.

There are many legal greats of our time and of times past. All of them started out as people, people who felt that there was something unbalanced in this world. They all would have felt the daunting and demoralizing weight of institutions. Yet they still stood and worked. They persevered.

I'd encourage all my readers, potential lawyers or not, to continue persevering. It may have broken every belief I had in the law to read the sentences given through Australian courts but it has also helped me to rebuild them. Rebuild them with a foundation in reality and a tenacious belief that continuous perseverance and hard work will, however small, effect change.

Love,

The Underage Lawyer.