County council’s legal lead lands new role with Vincents
Nina Ellement, formerly head of legal at Cumbria County Council, has joined Vincents Solicitors in Preston. A senior solicitor with more than 20 years’ experience of childcare proceedings, Nina has joined the specialist childcare team within the firm’s family law department.
Prior to being appointed legal lead at Cumbria in 2020, Nina spent 15 years at St Helens Council working exclusively on childcare cases for the local authority. She will now bring that experience to her work assisting local families facing care proceedings via Vincents’ three Childcare Legal Aid contracts in Preston, Blackpool and Chorley.
Nina said: “I am excited to be back working directly with families and helping parents at risk of losing their children to access the support they need to turn their lives around.
“Unfortunately, people often don’t realise what is required of them once the council issues proceedings and many bury their heads in the sand. But, as our services are provided through Legal Aid, there really is no reason for parents not to seek our help.
“Our role involves more than just the legal aspects, it’s practical support and advice about how to engage with the drug and alcohol and mental health services which are provided to help them improve their ability to parent their child safely.
“Having worked on both sides of these cases I’ve seen the most successful outcomes for children and their families are when there’s good legal advice from the outset, from the moment the council notifies parents about pre-proceedings.
“I love how much difference we can make for these families by providing that education, supporting them through a very difficult time and holding the local authority to account, making sure what they are doing is appropriate and legal.
“I missed being hands on in my previous role and was thrilled when Vincents offered me a position to get back to doing what I love. Every single case is different and I am absolutely delighted to have the chance to make a difference, help families stay together, and to work with this incredible team here at Vincents.”
Vincents Solicitors is just one of a limited number of firms to hold Childcare Legal Aid contracts in Lancashire, allowing them to support families in care cases going through the courts in Preston, Blackpool and Chorley. The team is led by Val Shaw, an Accredited Specialist with Resolution with regards private law children cases involving disputes about contact and living arrangements following relationship breakdown. Val is also a Children Law panel member, an accreditation which allows her to represent children and parents in care proceedings issued by the local authority.
Val said: “Sadly the number of childcare proceedings being issued continues to grow and the delays caused by lockdown over the last two years has only increased the caseload. Parents come to us desperate for help at a very difficult time and it is vital that we can provide them with the very best support and advice, and so I am delighted to have Nina on board to expand our highly specialist service for families in our local area.”
Mark Mosley, head of the family law department at Vincents Solicitors, added: “Nina is an extremely knowledgeable and compassionate childcare legal practitioner whose expertise in this field is second to none. Her in-depth local authority experience will provide great benefit to our family clients and she is an extremely welcome addition to our growing childcare team.”
To contact Nina and the childcare team to discuss how Vincents can assist, please call 01772 555 1176.
ENDS
Pictured: Vincents Solicitors’ Nina Ellement and Mark Mosley