The Transparency Project

Family Justice Council Conference & Bridget Lindley Memorial Lecture : ‘Private Law – a proportionate and safe approach’

by reporting watch team | Mar 6, 2022 | FCReportingWatch

Wednesday 6 April 2022 9.30am – 4.30pm In Doubletree by Hilton, Bristol The Family Justice Council will be holding its annual interdisciplinary conference in Bristol on Wednesday 6 April 2022. This year’s topic will be ‘Private Law –...

A Crisis in allocating social work ‘Guardians’ to vulnerable children? And other news from the last Cafcass Open Board meeting

by Alice T | Mar 5, 2022 | Events, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

Cafcass have led for some time in opening certain board meetings to stakeholders and pre registered members of the public, and consistently lodging minutes on their website albeit a few months later. They now lodge not just the agenda but also the CEO report to every...

Going off piste: how far beyond the local authority’s ‘threshold’ allegations can the court go in the findings it makes against parents?

by Guest Post | Mar 1, 2022 | Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

This is a guest post by Iain Large. Iain is a practising barrister and a member of St John’s Chambers in Bristol. He is a specialist in both public law children proceedings and private law disputes involving children, financial and property matters. He tweets as...

Survey: how do you find and use judgments?

by Paul M | Feb 25, 2022 | Consultations, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

The National Archives (TNA) will soon be launching their new national database of judgments from the courts of England and Wales. They would like to ensure that this new online service is accessible for everyone. To that end, they are conducting user research to...

Legal blogging: an appeal from a fact-finding hearing

by Julie Doughty | Feb 21, 2022 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging

Over the past few weeks, I attended three online hearings in one case, as a legal blogger. The judge has given me permission to write on it (but more on that, see final paragraphs below). The case was an appeal to a circuit judge, HHJ Levey at Portsmouth Family Court,...

A not quite so Open Government Plan

by Paul M | Feb 20, 2022 | Comment, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

The UK’s fifth National Action Plan for Open Government 2021–2023 (NAP5) was published on 31 January 2022. It sets out six commitments in line with the international Open Government Partnership values of transparency and openness, civic participation and...

FAMILY COURT REPORTING WATCH ROUNDUP

by Alice T | Feb 20, 2022 | Cases, Comment, Consultations, FCReportingWatch, Transparency News

Welcome to this month’s Roundup, where we correct, clarify and comment on media reports of family court cases, explain and comment on published family court judgments and highlight other transparency news MEDIA COVERAGE OF FAMILY COURT MATTERS The Independent –...

Which Judges can relax reporting restrictions?

by Lucy R | Feb 13, 2022 | FCReportingWatch, Legal blogging

It’s not that often that a journalist or legal blogger attends a family court hearing but, when they do, they will often ask for permission to report what has taken place, anonymously. Because lawyers and judges are often unfamiliar with dealing with this sort...

What is ‘gaslighting’ and what does it mean in family court cases?

by Julie Doughty | Feb 11, 2022 | Cases, FCReportingWatch, Trends

We have noticed assumptions that family courts are familar with the terms ‘gaslighting’ and ‘being gaslit’, but is the meaning widely known and understood? A straw poll suggests not. This post will look at the origins of the concept, and its...