Posts
FGM: Bad-faith actors and unintended consequences
This is a guest post by Georgia Fineberg about the case of Nottingham County Council v OA & Anor [2022] EWFC 102 (17 August 2022). Georgia is a pupil barrister who has worked for nine years in the women's voluntary sector, primarily supporting...
Transparency Project on social media
We are now on Mastodon, as well as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram (occasionally!) and (for the time being) Twitter. Our Mastodon account is - @seethrujustice.mas.to. We're still working that new platform out! If you don't already follow us please feel free to go and...
Open Justice : Court Reporting In The Digital Age
On 1 November 2022 the House of Commons Justice Committee published their report : Open Justice: court reporting in the digital age. Whilst not limited to matters relating to Family Justice, the report contains a significant section dealing specifically with Open...
Hague Mothers
'A good law gone bad' is how the Hague Convention on International Abduction was described in a session organised by the Filia Hague Mothers project at an international feminist conference held in Cardiff over the weekend. The Convention was drafted in 1980 and...
The Relaunch of Family Mediation
I've been working in and around family and child law for more than 30 years, during which several different UK governments and departments have discovered family mediation, as if the first time. 'Mediation is quicker, cheaper, less stressful, more empowering' etc etc....
A tale of two experts
Two judgments caught my eye in the last few weeks, adding to the body of case law relating to the conduct of experts who provide evidence in the family courts. One expert came out pretty well; the other… less so. Let’s start with the positive, shall we? (Warning:...
LAW COMMISSION – CONTEMPT OF COURT PROJECT – Memorandum by Sir James Munby
The below memorandum was prepared by Sir James Munby for the consideration of the Law Commission who are currently running a project concerning the possible reform of contempt of court. It is published with their agreement....
Albert Squarely inaccurate
This post is by Delia Minoprio. Delia is a family law barrister at 1 Crown Office Row specialising in all aspects of children work. She tweets as @familylawdm A child protection storyline is no stranger to the scripts of BBC TV’s Eastenders....
New Judiciary website with transparency updates
After many months - getting on for a year - of The Transparency Project continually asking for more transparent publication of the progress of the President's Transparency Implementation Group (TIG) we're pleased to have been notified of a new TIG webpage on a new...
Royal wills: why the Queen’s is different
In two previous posts we’ve discussed the fate of the late Prince Philip’s will. Following an application by his executors, the court made an order sealing it up for 90 years. There were questions about how transparent those proceedings were, but the basic rule that...