Posts
Open Letter to the LCJ: HMCTS guidance on public access to courts
Dear Lady Chief Justice, We write on behalf of the Courts and Tribunals Observers’ Network, a UK-based initiative focused on how the public can be supported to observe courts and access court information in digital and physical environments, to express our concerns...
It’s out! New edition of Transparency in the Family Courts
"The publication of this excellent book is extremely welcome," said Sir Andrew McFarlane when Transparency in the Family Courts: Publicity and Privacy in Practice, written by three of our trustees, Julie Doughty, Lucy Reed KC and Paul Magrath, was first published, in...
Happy endings in East London Family Court – legal blogging under the extended Reporting Pilot
The transparency Reporting Pilot, launched a year ago in just three courts, has recently been expanded to a further 16 courts, one of which is East London Family Court. As that court is within easy reach by public transport, I decided to investigate its potential for...
The MoJ review of the presumption of parental involvement
We have now had a reply from the Ministry of Justice to our second annual request under the Freedom of Information Act about the ‘urgent’ (2020) review of the presumption of parental involvement. Details are explained in this post. In short, we have been trying to...
Maintenance for a disabled adult child: a case of legal blogging
Between August 2022 and June 2023, I observed, online, a number of hearings in a single case heard by His Honour Judge Shelton who is a judge in the family court in Leeds. The case was about the amount of money that the father/ex husband (James) should pay towards his...
Reporting Pilot Expansion – training video for lawyers
On Monday 29 Jan the (children) Reporting Pilot expanded to a whole host of new courts across England and Wales, and a new Financial Remedy Reporting Pilot began. Overall this will vastly increase the potential for reporters to observe and write about the work of the...
Updated Guidance – What to do if a reporter attends (or wants to attend) your hearing – Pilot and Non-Pilot Court versions
This time last year we produced a guidance note for judges and lawyers to help them navigate the relatively unfamiliar scenario of a reporter rocking up at court. That guidance note was endorsed by the Financial Remedies Court subgroup of the Transparency...
Hair strand testing – pitfalls and limitations
This is a guest post by Lucy Taylor. Lucy is a pupil barrister at Coram Chambers. When it is disputed whether a person uses drugs, the family court can – and often does - order hair strand testing to determine the issue. This article draws upon the work of lawyer...
Reporting Pilot expanded across England
As anticipated, the Reporting Pilot is now being extended to more courts - another 16, as well as the existing pilot in Cardiff, Carlisle and Leeds. We have copied the Judiciary press release below. As more metropolitan courts are now included, we may well see a lot...
What is a rubric and why does it matter?
We're posting a link to this new article by Sir James Munby, retired President of the Family Division, which has been published by the Financial Remedies Journal here - The Use and Misuse of the Rubric in the Family Courts The article isn't just about financial cases...