Litigant’s claim struck out for discussing case during break in giving evidence – a cautionary tale

by Paul M | Apr 15, 2018 | Cases, Explanation

It’s one of the cardinal rules of court procedure: once you’ve entered the witness box and started to give evidence, you mustn’t discuss the case with anyone outside court, if there’s a break in the proceedings, until you’ve finished giving evidence. While the...

Meal ticket for life bid backfires – or does it?

by reporting watch team | Apr 14, 2018 | Cases, FCReportingWatch

The Telegraph is one of a number of newspapers to report on the decision of the Court of Appeal to refuse the appeal of Mrs Waggott asking for an increase in her divorce award, and to allow the appeal of Mr Waggot, asking for the duration of her maintenance award to...

The responsible use of attachment assessments for court

by Julie Doughty | Apr 11, 2018 | Cases, Comment, Explanation

This is a guest post by Rebecca Carr-Hopkins and Tracy Rydin-Orwin (ICI trainers) and Andrea Landini (Director, Family ReIations Institute). They are responding to our post on the case of Re C [2018] EWFC B9, where a psychologist’s evidence was based on a...

SERGEI AND YULIA SKRIPAL AND THE COURT OF PROTECTION

by Barbara Rich | Apr 5, 2018 | Analysis, Cases, Comment, Notorious

What are a person’s best interests in a decision to permit use of samples of body fluids or tissue for a purpose which is neither of direct therapeutic benefit to the person him or herself, or an act of direct altruism towards another person? The law of mental...

Bloomin’ eck! Divorcing fraudster named and shamed but the papers ignore it

by reporting watch team | Apr 1, 2018 | Cases, Comment, FCReportingWatch

Search for ‘bloom divorce’ on google and all you get is items about Orlando Bloom’s ‘painful separation from his wife Miranda Kerr’. This post is about a different and altogether less attractive Mr Bloom (no, not the one off CBeebies...

Worboys : Parole Board transparency and parallels with family courts

by reporting watch team | Mar 31, 2018 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

This week, the Judicial Reviews of the Parole Board’s decision to release serial sex offender John Worboys were successful. Apart from quashing the decision and sending it back to be reconsidered on better evidence, the High Court also struck down that bit of...