Posts
New Lord Chief Justice wants to improve public understanding of how judges work
Giving his first annual press conference since his appointment earlier this year, the Lord Chief Justice said his two main concerns would be to increase awareness of what judges do, and to secure reforms needed to modernise the justice system. After his speech, he...
The open justice principle: a child’s crimes and a parent’s misdemeanour
Open justice for a child in criminal proceedings What legal principles connect publicity for the 17 year-old Charlie Pearce (born 3 July 2000), a double rapist and attempt murderer (R v Pearce (Press Restrictions) Haddon-Cave J (7 December 2017)) and privacy for a...
We’re recharging our batteries! Back in 2018
Merry Christmas from The Transparency Project team. We've been a bit quiet the last few weeks, but will be back with a spring in our step in 2018. By the way, the picture is of The Tate gallery, snapped by Paul Magrath as he went by. We thought it was a good metaphor...
Privacy and the Princess
Once upon a time, His Royal Highness Louis Xavier Marie Guillauime, Prince of Luxembourg, Prince of Nassau and Prince of Bourbon-Parma married Tessy Antony, now Her Royal Highness Tessy Princess of Luxembourg, Princess of Nassau and Princess of Bourbon-Parma....
A new financial court for the super wealthy?
The Times and The Telegraph are reporting that new courts are being established to deal with the financial side of divorces for the wealthy. ‘Divorce courts for super-rich win cautious welcome from lawyers’ is The Times’ headline; The Telegraph has ‘New courts planned...
Privacy versus accountability in the Family Courts
This is a post by Sarah Phillimore. For more tweets about discussions on the night, see #talkfamilyjustice. On 5th December 2017 The Transparency Project hosted a debate about privacy and accountability in the family courts, in order to mark the launch of our...
Media Litigation: a new approach
Earlier this year Mr Justice Warby was appointed to the newly created role of Judge in Charge of the Media and Communications List. We look at what this means in practice and how it will affect the future management of High Court media claims. The new list Speaking at...
“It blew up too soon for us” – CAFCASS explain their position on alienation
On 17 November the Guardian ran a front page article by Amelia Hill about a “groundbreaking” new trial that CAFCASS were running, to tackle parental alienation. It contained substantial quotes from CAFCASS’ Principal Social Worker, Sarah Parsons, so appeared to have...
Surrogacy arrangement breakdown: surrogate ordered to hand child over to intended parents
H (A Child : Surrogacy Breakdown) [2017] EWCA Civ 1798 Judge ordered surrogate mother to hand child over to intended same sex parents The case concerned two couples A and B, male same-sex partners, and C and D, a heterosexual married couple. C and D had 5...
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 Community Care - In the lead-up to...