Constitution

We are a charitable incorporated organisation. The Transparency Project Constitution can be downloaded here [amended 25 March 2024]. The objects of the Transparency Project as set out in the constitution are : To advance the education of the public in the subject of...

Editorial & Comments Policy

We want to encourage constructive discussion on this site. But we do have some rules. Please read them. The short version Opinions are welcomed, even strong or critical ones. You can comment even if you disagree with us. Personal attacks are not welcomed and may be...

Daily Mail in fair and accurate reporting shock

This is an updated version of the original post last week which disappeared during a period of site maintenance. We were rather surprised by this story in the Daily Mail last week which consisted of a perfectly reasonable selection of quotations from a Court of Appeal...

Transparency Project becomes a charity

We’ve taken the first steps towards becoming a real grown up project. This week our constitution was signed and trustees appointed (Lucy Reed, Sarah Phillimore and Julie Doughty) and our documents have gone off to the Charity Commission to be processed so that...

Anonymous Committals

Lucy Reed has blogged about a recent case where a person committed to prison for contempt of court was initially anonymous due to a reporting restriction order made by a Family Division Judge. The order has now been varied. You can read Lucy’s blog post on Pink...

The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers

‘If I wait for evidence it can be too late’ – when dramatic licence goes too far   I watched the first half of Silent Witness: Protection on Wednesday via iplayer and smiled indulgently at some of the more anguished twitter responses to its...

The curious case of the judge with no name

There is an assumption in some parts of the media that the Family Courts are deliberately operating in a secretive manner in order to cover up the sinister conduct of social workers, doctors, and local authorities, and that is why hearings are held in private (ie in...

Naming social workers in family court cases

Community Care has published this story about social workers’ fears of being named in the media. This reminds us that it’s not just children who worry about this prospect, but also professionals. The article is sponsored by Unison, the trade union, on behalf of their...

How transparent can we be?

As its very new, we’re still feeling our way through how we will run this project – and we have recently had to deal with the thorny issue of what the limits are on comments about individual cases. We have an “Editorial Policy” here, which sets...