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...

Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup: February-March 2025

by reporting watch team | Mar 29, 2025 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

Welcome to the Roundup, where we correct, clarify and comment on media reports of family law, explain and comment on published family court judgments, and highlight other transparency news.  MEDIA COVERAGE OF FAMILY LAW, TRANSPARENCY etc The BBC reported on The...

Access to Family Court documents under the open justice principle

by Julie Doughty | Mar 24, 2025 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

UPDATE – 2nd July 2025 – see bottom of this post Journalists and legal bloggers (reporters) are normally allowed to see certain types of documents under the Reporting Provisions that came in this year, and earlier during the Reporting Pilot. Sometimes...

Court of Appeal to decide on ‘necessity’ for intermediaries

by Julie Doughty | Mar 23, 2025 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging

We wrote last year about a hearing I attended in Cardiff Family Court about the necessity for an intermediary to assist a father in a fact-finding hearing. We were therefore interested to see recently listed an appeal against a decision made by a judge in a different...

Does a reporter have to be in court to read confidential documents?

by reporting watch team | Mar 14, 2025 | Cases, Comment, FCReportingWatch

Dale Vince, described on Wikipedia as ‘a British Green energy industrialist, former New Age traveller’ attracts a good deal of publicity whether it’s his political donations, owning a ‘green’ football team, or taking libel actions against publishers who wrongly...

The Transparency and Open Justice Board – consultation on key objectives

by reporting watch team | Mar 2, 2025 | Consultations, FCReportingWatch

In April last year, the Lady Chief Justice set up a new Transparency and Open Justice Board, chaired by Mr Justice Nicklin. It aims to lead and coordinate the promotion of transparency and open justice across the courts and tribunals of England & Wales and support...