THE FACTS
EUNICE Williams from Klipspruit West, Soweto, came to the SunDefender for help.
She said when her daughter was arrested, she had to take care of her three grandkids and their dad fought for custody.
The court ruled in her favour and she won custody of the children. Last year, the father went to court to try and get custody of one of the children and Eunice applied for legal representation at Legal Aid SA.
She received confirmation that an attorney had been appointed, but on the day the case went to court, her attorney told Eunice she couldn’t represent her but didn’t give a reason.
WHAT I DID
I spoke to the attorney to ask why she decided not to represent Eunice.
SOLUTION
The attorney said her employer, Legal Aid SA, appointed her to represent the father in the previous custody battle in 2014.
When Eunice applied for legal representation, the case was allocated to the same attorney. But the attorney wasn’t aware it involved one of the children from the earlier case.
The attorney only became aware of this when they appeared in court.
She stepped down from the case and reported the matter to her line manager, who advised that Eunice be allocated another attorney.
