Messing about on the river (or CoP-Celia, you’re breaking my heart…)

by Lucy R | Aug 19, 2020 | Comment, Court of Protection, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Trends

As the summer has worn on, clouds have been gathering. In exchanges with other Transparency Project team members, I’ve been threatening to write a rather sullen blog post about transparency for a few weeks, and have finally been gathering my thoughts on the bow of our...

THE FAMILY COURTS MUST SHOW THEIR WORKINGS

by Guest Post | Aug 13, 2020 | Cases, Comment, FCReportingWatch

Melanie Newman is a freelance journalist. Previously a reporter at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, she has also worked for BBC Newsnight and the Victoria Derbyshire Programme. She writes for the British Medical Journal and is a regular contributor to the Law...

Family court stat spike due to covid? Not remotely so.

by Jo Edwards | Jul 30, 2020 | Comment, FCReportingWatch

This is a guest post by Jo Edwards, who tweets as @MissJoEdwards. Last Sunday morning started pleasantly enough.  Sun peeking through the shutters after being a no-show the day before; a cup of tea in bed; a visit to the gym looming and the prospect of...

The Spotlight Review on domestic abuse – where does it fit in with other court reforms?

by Julie Doughty | Jul 24, 2020 | Comment, Consultations, FCReportingWatch

The work undertaken by the ‘spotlight panel’ appointed by the Ministry of Justice, reported in what is being referred to as the ‘harm report’, has already been commented on here and here. Its full title is ‘Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law...

Recusal refusal: judge declines to step down in response to litigant’s suspicions of apparent bias

by Paul M | Jul 17, 2020 | Cases, Comment, Explanation

In an earlier post we described how a judge refused to allow a McKenzie Friend to speak in court on behalf of a litigant in person. In a further judgment in the same case, Ameyaw v McGoldrick [2020] EWHC 1787 (QB), Mrs Justice Steyn refused the litigant’s application...

Another view on the government ‘spotlight review’ report – on how the family courts treat domestic abuse

by Guest Post | Jul 8, 2020 | Comment, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

This is a guest post by Ursula Rice. Ursula is a Solicitor-Advocate and Director at Family First Solicitors. She tweets as @tweetygraffity. We hope to publish more posts about this Review in the coming days. You can read previous posts here and here. On...