Posts
Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup
Welcome to the Roundup, where we correct, clarify and comment on media reports of family law, explain and comment on published family court judgments, and highlight other transparency news. MEDIA COVERAGE OF FAMILY LAW MATTERS The Standard (12 May 2024)...
Written Advocacy – who is it for?
This post is a guest post by Anna Yarde. Anna is a children barrister at Harcourt Chambers. This commentary is intended for lawyers to read and for lay parties to benefit from. A Guide for Lawyers – Improving Transparency in the Family Court Written Advocacy - and who...
Are cases getting ‘smaller’? – an update
In March, we wrote about some recent cases in which Mrs Justice Lieven in the High Court had talked about the need to ‘make cases smaller’ since the relaunch of the PLO (Public Law Outline) in January 2023. One of these judgments, West Northamptonshire Council (acting...
Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup
Welcome to the 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 LAW MATTERS The Times (£), The...
Transparency & Open Justice Board announced
Giving the keynote speech at the Society of Editors 25th anniversary conference on 30 April 2024 the Lady Chief Justice, Baroness Carr of Walton-On-The-Hill, announced the establishment of a new Transparency and Open Justice Board, to be chaired by Mr Justice...
My first daytrip to the Magistrates Court
Introduction – the context Since last November it has been possible, in a small number of family courts, for reporters to attend hearings before magistrates in the knowledge that it will most likely be possible to write about what has taken place after the hearing...
What’s the point of a judgment?
This is a guest post from Alexander Chandler KC. The post originally appeared on Alex's Family Brief blog here and is republished here with thanks to Alex. Alex tweets as @familybrief. Examples, Authorities and the Panopticon Cast your mind back to the first time you...
What the pilot saw: an everyday case management hearing in the Family Court
This month once again having a day to spare I headed off for a bit more legal blogging at East London Family Court. This time I was able to observe a case which remains as yet unresolved, yet the omens seem good. The hearing I attended was covered by the Reporting...
‘Paedophiles to be stripped of parental rights’? and other failed legislative amendments
UPDATE 13 May 2024 - see below at end of point 1.** A few days ago, there were a number of amendments to legislation going through Parliament that tried to address widespread concerns and (if they were passed) would have had significant impact on family law....
Serious medical treatment – the importance of the public record
This is a guest post by Alex Ruck Keene KC (Hon) reproduced with his permission from the Mental Capacity Law and Policy blog. In 2014, a (relatively) very long time ago, Sir James Munby, then President of the Court of Protection, issued guidance on the publication of...