code: def getNodeByName(node, name):
      
  
      if node is None:
          raise Exception(
              "Cannot search for a child '%s' in a None object" % (name,)
          )
      if not name:
          raise Exception("Unspecified name to find node for.")
      try:
          childNode = node.xpath("*[local-name() = '%s']" % name)[0]
      except:
          return None
      return childNode
docs: Get the first child node matching a given local name