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PC-4080: A small island’s grand experiment in procedural hysteria.

⟡ Stanbrooks Law – Re: Harassment (Turks & Caicos Homeschool Dispute)⟡

Filed: 6 August 2020
Reference: SWANK/StanbrooksLaw/PC-4080
Download PDF: 2020-08-06_Core_PC-4080_StanbrooksLaw_TurksAndCaicos_HomeschoolHarassmentComplaint.pdf
Summary: Rejection email from a Providenciales law firm declining to assist a parent facing state harassment — emblematic of the regional legal culture’s studied indifference to rights, procedure, and oxygen.

I. What Happened

• On 5 August 2020, Polly Chromatic, a U.S.–U.K. citizen residing in Grand Turk, wrote to Stanbrooks Lawdetailing three years of harassment by the Department of Social Development for homeschooling her children — a practice repeatedly approved by the Department of Education.
• Her account describes officials banging on her door “as though a murder was in progress,” forcing medical examinations, dismantling her fence, and re-entering her property under emergency COVID-19 powers.
• On 6 August 2020, attorney Sophie Stanbrook replied, declining representation on the ground that the firm “only does non-contentious legal work” — the Caribbean’s most delicate euphemism for we’d rather not.
• The recommendation to “perhaps try another lawyer” is notable for its civility, economy, and absolute moral vacancy.

II. What the Document Establishes

• Evidence of widespread institutional apathy: human rights as boutique service, unavailable on smaller islands.
• Proof that the complainant sought lawful recourse and was rebuffed at the threshold of formality.
• Illustration of a legal culture trained in avoidance — a masterclass in polished disinterest.
• Corroboration of ongoing homeschool harassment, administrative instability, and medical endangerment.
• The moment the judiciary’s colonial inheritance revealed itself not as justice but as etiquette.

III. Why SWANK Logged It

• To capture the texture of juridical indifference — politeness as denial, charm as shield.
• To evidence the regional pattern where procedure becomes the weapon of choice and inaction its outcome.
• Because every great case study in institutional abuse begins with a lawyer who found it “too contentious.”
• To document the precise point at which access to justice became a lifestyle subscription.

IV. Applicable Standards & Violations

• UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers (1990) §12–16 — Duty to ensure effective access to legal services.
• UN CRPD Articles 7 & 13 — Access to justice for persons with disabilities and their families.
• ECHR Article 6 — Right to a fair hearing.
• ECHR Article 8 — Respect for private and family life.
• Equality Act 2010 s.26 — Harassment related to disability (cross-jurisdictional relevance).

V. SWANK’s Position

This is not “non-contentious.”
This is non-conscience.

• We do not accept the architecture of avoidance that passes for legal professionalism.
• We reject the doctrine of “polite disengagement” as an ethical category.
• We will continue to document every curt declination that decorates injustice with stationery.

⟡ This Entry Has Been Formally Archived by SWANK London Ltd. ⟡
Every comma jurisdictional. Every refusal instructional.
Because civility without courage is not professionalism — it is performance art for the privileged.

This is not a blog.
This is a legal-aesthetic instrument.
Filed with deliberate punctuation, preserved for litigation and education.
Because evidence deserves elegance — and retaliation deserves an archive.

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