Posts
Transparency and risk assessments : A Covid-Catch 22
It is encouraging that HMCTS (Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service has published their organisational risk assessment, dealing with the broad approach to the assessment of risk around the attendance of public and professionals at court hearings during the...
Civil Justice Council Rapid Consultation: The impact of COVID-19 measures on the civil justice system
Following the rapid consultation on the use of remote hearings in the family justice system, undertaken by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory at the request of the President of the Family Division, the Civil Justice Council have now embarked on a similar...
The latest remote hearing decision : “Not without my lawyer!”
This is a post 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 The latest case on remote hearings in a care case comes from Mr Justice Williams,...
Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup
Welcome to this month's Roundup, where we correct, clarify and comment on media reports of family court cases, explain and comment on published family court judgments and highlight other transparency news MEDIA COVERAGE OF FAMILY COURT MATTERS The Times and the...
Small update from the President on his Transparency Review call for evidence
This is a quick post to share some helpful updating information from the President. We think only those who responded to the Transparency Review call for evidence will have received this email update. So for those who don't already know, the President has now said as...
To name or not to name – that is the question
We noticed two cases in which judgments were published yesterday, the very day that the President’s Transparency Review call for evidence closed - each deals with the question of whether a local authority who had brought care proceedings should be named, and each...
Transparency Review Call For Evidence Closes – Our Response
The President of the Family Division's Transparency Review Panel put out a call for evidence in the early months of the year, before Covid-19 darkened our doors. Today the several-times-extended deadline for that call for evidence fell due. The Transparency Project...
Is Criminal Justice Under Lockdown Remotely Possible?
Justice suspended Nothing better represents our idea of justice being not only done but seen to be done than the spectacle of trial by jury in the Crown Court. The arrangement of the physical space of the courtroom, the royal coat of arms behind the raised bench...
Transgender man loses appeal and remains recognised as ‘mother’ on child’s birth certificate
This case concerns an appeal by Alfred McConnell (previously anonymised as TT in the first instance decision). Mr McConnell was born female but around 10 years ago, at the age of 22, transitioned to become male, undergoing testosterone treatment and a double...
The magic soup stone strikes again (more new authorities about remote hearings)
Following on from our Alphabet Soup post about Re A and Re B (and our earlier post about Re P), there are two new remote hearing related judgments out : A Local Authority v Mother & Ors [2020] EWHC 1086 (Fam) and Re Q [2020] EWHC 1109 (Fam). As with A and B,...