Posts
The Children Act – a novel approach
What is it like being a judge? More particularly, what is it like being a High Court judge with the responsibility of deciding matters of life and death? Though cast as a novel, with a story to engage the reader, this is what The Children Act is really about. Its...
Cats, genies and stable doors.
Locking the stable door after the horse has bolted There are many metaphors which are applicable in this situation. Cats that are out of bags, genies that are out of their bottles etc, etc. What the metaphors share is recognition of the futility of trying to act after...
Young people protecting their privacy
Interesting research on whether young people care about protecting their privacy. https://theconversation.com/no-digital-natives-are-not-clueless-about-protecting-their-privacy-online-31654
Accessible Judgments
More family judgments than ever before are being made available to the public, primarily through BAILII. But sending a judgment to BAILLI doesn't in itself mean that the public are better informed or that they are able to access the information held on that site in a...
Is ‘transparency’ the same as ‘openness’?
The short answer is 'No'. Some years ago, I noticed that the consultation documents on access to family courts tended to use these two terms interchangeably and I wondered if transparency was just a fashionable word for openness. I looked into it and discovered that...
Open justice and access to law: why BAILII deserves our support
In a recent speech, Lord Neuberger, the President of the Supreme Court, spoke of the importance of open justice. “In its most basic form,” he said, “it means that court hearings take place in public and judges’ decisions are available to the public.” As Julie D has...
Ashya King
[Updated 9 Sept 2014] There has been a lot of media attention in respect of the case of Ashya King in the last few days. This post links to relevant information and sets out some basic legal facts (as far as they are known). Ashya is a 5 year old boy who has been...
Adoption Targets & Bonuses
I couldn't really nail this in my "follow the money" pieces (part 2 here), but it is important. I was thinking that a starting point might be an FOI request to the Department for Education, and had in mind these questions 1. Has the UK Government had a policy,...
Why is the Family Court an exception to the principle of open justice? A guide in plain English
The starting point for court proceedings is traditionally that they must all be open to the public because justice must be seen to be done. Exceptions were recognised in an early 20th century case as being, for example, where certain children and people with mental...
Follow the money Part Two
Follow the Money Part Two (please read Part One first, which sets out the context and purpose) Social workers The social worker is the person at the sharp end. On any individual case, they have to make the judgment call as to whether the situation can work at...