Posts
Dealing With Parents’ Conflict And Unreasonable Behaviour
A Talk by Sir James Munby (lately President of the Family Division) at the Annual General Meeting / Conference of NACCC, Amersham 24 November 2018 Everyone in the family justice system knows just what a vital role is played by Child Contact Centres...
Flexible Operating Hours in court: new pilot under scrutiny
Can flexible operating hours (FOH) make better use of court buildings and facilities to provide a justice service outside traditional court hours for all users?
Cross examination – the greatest ever engine for the discovery of truth?
In November 2018 The House of Lords discussed the recent investigation of Lord Lester of Herne Hill. The Senior Deputy Speaker, Lord McFall of Alcluith, set out in brief the relevant background: that Lord Lester had been accused of sexual harassment of the complainant...
Domestic Abuse Guidance Note launched
The Transparency Project is proud to launch its latest guidance note on the topic of domestic abuse today. The guidance note will be launched formally at tonight's Panel discussion : Allegations of domestic abuse : are family courts working for children &...
Direct Contact within Adoption – A Guest Post
Originally posted on her own Blog, MummyTiger granted us permission to post her story here for our readers. Focusing on adoption and the difficult subject of direct contact, we welcome discussion on this. Does adoption need to be 'closed' as often as it is? Or could...
Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup
Correcting, clarifying or commenting on media reports of family court cases Explaining or commenting on published judgments of family court cases Highlighting other transparency news MEDIA (MIS)REPORTS OF FAMILY COURT CASES The Times - Blog to follow on Surrogate...
Low morale, dilapidated buildings and ever increasing workload: why the Lord Chief Justice is concerned for the judiciary
This week the Lord Chief Justice issued his annual report for 2018. It does not make for comfortable reading. "I view the low levels of morale within the judiciary with considerable concern. The poor state of many of our buildings is a contributing factor. So too...
Shut out of the Process: Litigants’ Experiences in the post-LASPO Family Court
This is a guest post by Jess Mant, a lecturer in law at Cardiff University, who has undertaken research directly with unrepresented litigants about their experiences in family courts. Jess was recently quoted in a Financial Times article, ‘Justice for All?: inside the...
McKenzie Friends: Getting help in court if you don’t have – or don’t want – a lawyer
In March 2017 HHJ Carol Atkinson handed down judgment in the case of H (Children : exclusion of Mackenzie friend) (Rev 1) [2017] EWFC B31 (05 March 2017). Legal Futures and the Transparency Project wrote about it at the time, though this had slipped...
Sir James Munby sums up his views on transparency
Family Law publishes a regular column by The Transparency Project. This blog post originally appeared in the October 2018 issue, [2018] Fam Law 1342. The outgoing President of the Family Division, Sir James Munby, gave a press conference...