Posts
Tafida Raqeeb Case: Day 2 in the High Court.
Day 2 of the hearing (Tuesday) saw David Lock QC, counsel for the parents continue his submissions, and Katie Gollop QC commence hers on behalf of Barts NHS Health Trust. David Lock QC stated that medical decision-making is about more than just medical best interests....
Tafida Raqeeb: First Day of the High Court Case
Described by counsel as ‘every parent’s worst nightmare’, the 9th September 2019 marked the first day of the Tafida Raqeeb case. I set out to attend under the legal bloggers pilot alongside accredited journalists though in fact the first day of the hearing was held in...
Suspended prison sentence for paralegal who sent family court papers to the wrong judge is ruled unfair
UPDATE 16 September: We have now seen the appeal judgment itself and have edited and updated this post. Please scroll to the end of this post for the update. A story appeared in The Times [paywalled] this week: 'Trainee lawyer unfairly convicted of contempt over...
Can a violent husband block a divorce?
This week has seen the headline : Mum whose violent husband was jailed can't get a divorce - because he says no, appear in the Daily Mirror. The same story is covered under the slightly less bold headline in the Metro : Abusive husband still controlling wife he put in...
Giving birth and the Court of Protection
Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust v X [2019] EWCOP 35 This is a guest post from Victoria Butler Cole QC (@TorButlerCole). Every year, there are a handful of applications to the Court of Protection to authorise delivery a baby by caesarean section against the...
Transparency Project team shortlisted for family law commentator of the year
We are thrilled to announce that we have been shortlisted for the Lexis Nexis 'Family Law Commentator Of The Year' award. The award is for 'the commentator who the family law community consider to have provided the most useful commentary to help them in their...
A Byline Festival conversation about Truth, Trust and Transparency in the Courts
From L to R: Sophie Walker, Mark Hanna, Brian Cathcart, Lucy Reed and Adam Wagner “A riot of independent journalism and free speech” is how the Byline Festival describes itself. It’s a varied mix of arts, literature, journalism and music, but running through it all is...
Change of residence – do we listen to children?
'Change of residence' in the context of a child arrangements order (a reform that was supposed to get rid of the 'win-lose' concept of residence and contact before 2014) is quite a cold, technical term to describe a child having to move from one household to another....
The danger of crusades
In the last few months, the Daily Express has been running a 'Crusade' (their label) with the banner 'End This Injustice'. Under this banner they have published a number of accounts from mothers who tell of abuse at the hands of the fathers of their children, and a...
An eventful Spring
This blog post originally appeared as an article in the July issue of Family Law [2019] Fam Law 825. It can be difficult writing a monthly column for a print publication when things are moving apace in the real world will it still hold currency when the edition...