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...

Transparency Orders – tool or straight jacket?

by Lucy R | Apr 10, 2025 | Analysis, Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Open Reporting, Reporting Pilot, Transparency News

[Update 19 Apr 2025: In light of the judgment in Abbasi delivered by the Supreme Court this week, we’ve slightly adjusted the wording in a couple of places (shown in italics and square brackets)]. In a recent interesting judgment hiding behind the nondescript...

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...

New court rules allow more reporting from family courts

by reporting watch team | Jan 30, 2025 | FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Reporting Pilot, Resources, Transparency News

What was introduced as the Reporting ‘Pilot’ in 2023 is now a permanent change in family courts, to allow more reporting by journalists and legal bloggers. Within a few months, reporting will be easier in almost all family court cases. The changes are...

Injuries to a baby: Part 2 – the court’s decisions

by Julie Doughty | Jan 29, 2025 | Analysis, Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Reporting Pilot

This post follows on from the first part of my report on care proceedings in Cardiff Family Court published here. I was uncertain as to exactly what the judge would decide about who had caused Claire’s injuries. There were no Perry Mason moments of discovery and...

Injuries to a baby: Part 1 – a mystery to be solved by the family court

by Julie Doughty | Jan 29, 2025 | Analysis, Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging, Reporting Pilot

One evening in autumn 2023, a young couple took their five month old baby to an emergency hospital where she was diagnosed with numerous physical injuries (some very serious) which the parents couldn’t explain. Local authority children’s services were called in and...