Posts
Final Presidential words on transparency
Sir James Munby, who retired as President of the Family Division at the end of July, has attracted a good deal of media attention over the years and has been innovative and enthusiastic about constructively engaging with the media. He was vocal as early as 2013 (in a...
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 Our posts this week have been geared to...
Transparency Project – some big news!
We're recruiting! We're really pleased to announced that The Transparency Project have been awarded a further consolidation grant from the Legal Education Foundation, and we will shortly be launching the recruitment process for a new full time post of Project...
Void, Valid and Very Confusing – what is the status of Sharia Marriages in the UK?
The High Court here in London has recently considered the status of an islamic marriage, that did not comply with all the usual formalities required in England & Wales. It has generated a lot of confused and confusing headlines - the marriage has been reported as...
Judge takes over father’s cross-examination in case involving rape allegations – and it ends up being unfair on everyone involved
Mr Justice Hayden is a High Court Judge who has been very outspoken about the potential for the court process to be abusive of those who are already victims of domestic abuse. In a case called Re A (a minor) (fact finding; unrepresented party) [2017] EWHC 1195 (Fam),...
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 We've not commented on mainstream press...
Just how close was 3-year-old ‘AJS’ to being adopted because of the unlawful immigration detention of her father?
Last week BBC News and the Guardian reported the important public interest story of a father's unlawful immigration detention, that left his three-year-old unnecessarily in care and at risk of a plan for adoption, despite the family court declaring they should be...
Owens v Owens: nobody panic
Owens v Owens is a Supreme Court decision about divorce, specifically about the level of behaviour needed to obtain a divorce on the basis of a spouse’s behaviour. Although we commonly refer to this as ‘unreasonable behaviour’, the proper wording says: 'That the...
Domestic Abuse – exaggeration is not required
This week in the House of Commons, during a debate about Domestic Abuse and the Family Courts, Jess Phillips MP said this : ...There is often friction among specialist women’s organisations, the judiciary and lawyers with regard to issues to do with violence against...
The Progress of Reform – or lack of it. The PAC’s Transforming Courts and Tribunals inquiry report
At the beginning of June the Transparency Project submitted written evidence to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee‘s Transforming courts and tribunals inquiry. (You can read our summary of all the written evidence here.) The PAC’s inquiry was prompted by a...