Can a court make a journalist reveal their source of information about a family court hearing?

by Julie Doughty | Jun 17, 2025 | Cases, Comment, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Open Reporting

A recently published judgment, Louise Tickle v The Father & Ors [2025] EWFC 160 is helpful in reaffirming journalists’ rights to protect the confidentiality of their sources, specifically in the context of a Family Court case. This judgment about sources of...

Can secret recordings be used as evidence in court?

by Julie Doughty | May 22, 2025 | Comment, Consultations

If you record a meeting or conversation about your children, without people being aware you’re recording them, can you then produce and rely on that recording as part of your evidence to a family court? This is a question that has been hanging around for several years...

Cross examination of medical experts – exceptional or exceptionally important?

by Lucy R | May 18, 2025 | Cases, Comment, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Open Reporting

What this post is about When medical expert witnesses are instructed in family cases, usually to help work out how an injury to a child was caused, their evidence can sometimes be accepted by all the parties, in which case the expert doesn’t need to attend court to...

SECTION 12 – YET MORE CONFUSION

by Lucy Reed | Apr 10, 2025 | Analysis, Cases, Comment, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Open Reporting, Transparency News

This is a guest post by Sir James Munby, former President of the Family Division. On 2 April 2025 Harris J handed down her reserved judgment in M v F and C [2025] EWHC 801 (Fam). The case had first come to public attention when the hearing on 20 February 2025 was...

Evaluation of the Pathfinder Pilot in Private Law – published

by Julie Doughty | Apr 8, 2025 | Comment

This announcement appeared quietly on the Ministry of Justice website on 25 March –  Private Law Pathfinder Pilot: process evaluation and financial analysis This report provides the findings of the process evaluation and exploratory financial analysis of...

Are young people losing their freedom because of Deprivation of Liberty Orders?

by Guest Post | Apr 6, 2025 | Comment, Court of Protection, FCReportingWatch

This is a guest post by Victoria Butler Cole KC. Victoria is a barrister at 39 Essex and you can find her on Bluesky @torbc.bsky.social. The BBC recently published an article about the experiences of a young woman who had spent time in a range of placements including...