Transparency in the Family Courts and the Court of Protection: what are the differences?

by Paul M | Mar 2, 2023 | Comment, Court of Protection, Legal blogging, Reporting Pilot, Transparency News

With the recent launch of the Transparency Reporting Pilot in the family courts, there may be a risk of confusion over some of the terminology, such as “Transparency Orders”, already used in the Court of Protection, and misunderstanding over the role of “legal...

Transparently clunky – Mostyn J and transparency orders before the Court of Protection

by Guest Post | Aug 10, 2022 | Analysis, Court of Protection, Explanation

This is a guest post by Alex Ruck Keene, reposted with permission from the Mental Capacity Law and Policy blog. In Re EM [2022] EWCOP 31, Mostyn J expressed a number of concerns about the transparency order made in the case before him by Keehan J, in ‘broadly...

When family members apply to become parties: A hidden and “private” (but not sinister and secret) hearing

by Guest Post | Jun 10, 2022 | Comment, Court of Protection, Transparency News

In the first of two linked guest posts, Celia Kitzinger explains the problem with the confusing and inconsistent way Court of Protection cases are currently listed, making it more difficult for public observers to attend the hearing. (This post is reproduced with...

Why are so many Court of Protection hearings labelled “PRIVATE”?

by Guest Post | Jun 10, 2022 | Comment, Court of Protection, Transparency News

This guest post by Celia Kitzinger is an APPENDIX to her post When family members apply to become parties: A hidden and “private” (but not sinister and secret) hearing Several of my previous blog posts lament the fact that so many Court of Protection hearings are...

Court hearing lists and open justice

by Paul M | May 5, 2022 | Court of Protection, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

A cheery post on the HM Courts and Tribunals Service blog recently announced that developers were now working on on  Making hearing lists more accessible to court and tribunal users This is long overdue. HMCTS has had court listings on its list, as it were, ever since...

The Equal Treatment Bench Book – guidance on fairness for judges

by reporting watch team | Dec 31, 2021 | Comment, Court of Protection, FCReportingWatch, Resources

UPDATE 25.03.24: We’ve now seen that there’s a revised 2023 version here. We’ve just noticed that a revised version of this lengthy document (566 pages!) has been issued online, so we looked for any references to transparency. What we found is brief...