Family

Article: A new code for family practitioners

Family A unified code of procedure for the family courts has been published.

Article: Bar Council endorses concerns contained in Lord Laming’s report

THE Bar Council and the Family Law Bar Association (FLBA) have endorsed the reforms recommending in Lord Laming’s report on child protection. Published on the 12th March, the report has highlighted the difficulties faced by professionals working to...

Article: Bar Council welcomes centre for Social Justice report on family law reform

THE Bar Council has today welcomed the report on family law reform, Every Family Matters, from the Centre for Social Justice, a leading think tank which is chaired by the Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP, the former Leader of the Conservative Party. The...

Article: Bar working party

A working party of about 100 barristers, clerks and practice managers from the criminal, family, civil, commercial and chancery Bar has been set up to advise sets of chambers on how to contract directly with the LSC.

Article: Baroness Scotland returns to Bar

After 11 years as a government minister. former Attorney General, Baroness Scotland has returned to the Bar. She joins 4 Paper Buildings, where she will practise family law. Baroness Scotland, who was the youngest ever woman QC, at 35, and the first...

Article: Barristers condemn LSC family contract decisions

Leading family law barristers have spoken out against the Legal Services Commission’s decision to drop many specialist solicitors firms from its contract pool.

Article: BI-LATERAL REGULATIONS EU COMPETENCE - ROME I, II AND FAMILY

Two regulations have recently been adopted establishing procedures for the negotiation, conclusion and variation of bi-lateral agreements between Member States and third countries, on respectively, applicable law in contractual and non-contractual...

Article: Cafcass applications rise

Care applications have reached record levels, according to figures released by Cafcass, the organisation that looks after children in the family courts.

Article: Call for judicial continuity

Lord Justice Wall, the President of the Family Division, has called for greater “judicial continuity” in family cases and warned of the trauma which separating parents inflict on their offspring.

Article: Calls for greater openness in family courts

“Transparency” is the most important issue facing the family justice system and legislation designed to bring about greater openness is a “lost opportunity”, Lord Justice Munby has said.

Article: Civil fee schemes

A “tolerance” fee for personal injury work, and a separate preparation fee for in-house advocates working on family public law care and supervision cases would be introduced under plans to amend the civil fee schemes.

Article: Cultural change in the family courts

Profession Sir Nicholas Wall, President of the Family Division, has questioned the need to set up a Family Justice Service - a central plank of the Norgrove Review recommendations.

Article: Deech calls for new debate on divorce reform

Baroness Deech has called for a change in public attitude towards divorce. In the first of six Gresham College lectures on family law, Divorce Law: A Disaster?, Baroness Deech of Cumnor DBE outlined the cost of divorce in financial and emotional...

Article: Deech calls for new debate on divorce reform

Baroness Deech has called for a change in public attitude towards divorce. In the first of six Gresham College lectures on family law, Divorce Law: A Disaster?, Baroness Deech of Cumnor DBE outlined the cost of divorce in financial and emotional...

Article: Delays increase anxiety of child witnesses

Child witnesses in Crown Court sex abuse and violence cases are waiting for more than a year to give evidence, despite government promises to the contrary.

Article: Every family matters

Access to justice must be a priority for the government, according to a report from the Centre for Social Justice.

Article: Experts’ concern over family court reporting

Expert witnesses fear for their personal security in family law cases that are reported by the press. The media were given limited powers to report family law cases including adoption, care proceedings and divorce, in April. During a quest ion and...

Article: FAMILY - COOPERATION ON MAINTENANCE OBLIGATIONS

By the time of reading, the Council will have adopted this regulation on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and cooperation in matters relating to maintenance obligations. The regulation will ensure that a...

Article: FAMILY - COOPERATION ON MAINTENANCE OBLIGATIONS

The new EU regulation on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and cooperation in matters relating to maintenance obligations ( Regulation (EC) No. 4/2009) was published in the Official Journal (L7/2009) and entered...

Article: Family Bar “close to breaking point”

Family law barristers have joined with the NSPCC to call for an urgent Parliamentary inquiry into the state of the family justice system. A coalition, including the Bar Council and Family Law Bar Association, have written to the chair of the House of...

Article: Family barristers face fee crisis

Family barristers are stepping up their campaign against proposals to pay fixed fees for advocacy in family legal aid cases from 2010.

Article: Family concern at single fee

A proposed single advocacy fee for barristers and solicitors in family cases would overpay less difficult cases and underpay more complex cases, barristers have warned.

Article: Family courts need more resources

A shortage of judges is creating delays in the family courts, the President of the Family Division has warned.

Article: Family courts open

Calls for greater transparency in the family justice system have been heeded: the media will be able to access and report legal proceedings in all levels of family courts, following Justice Secretary Jack Straw’s announcement last month. Parties c...

Article: Family judges placed under “great strains”

The increase in family work has placed “great strains” on family judges at all levels, according to the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge. His report, “Review of the Administration of Justice in the Courts”, published in February, identifies matters of...

Article: Family Justice Review

FamilyThe Family Law Bar has welcomed proposals to develop an integrated Family Justice Service and to cut back on delays.

Article: Family lawyers voice concern at plans to reform legal support for vulnerable women and children

THE Bar Council and the Family Law Bar Association have expressed concern over plans, announced by the Ministry of Justice, to roll up payments to barristers and solicitors into a single advocacy fee, putting at risk effective access to justice for...

Article: Family legal aid plans torn apart in damning Justice Select Committee report

LEGAL Services Commission proposals to cut legal support for vulnerable children and families have been savaged in a damning report from the all-party Justice Select Committee. The report, published today, concludes that 'proposals for reform were...

Article: Financial pressures on family justice could increase risks

Cuts in legal aid fees for family cases and a “massive” hike in court fees could put vulnerable children at increased risk, Desmond Browne QC, the 2009 chair of the Bar Council, has warned.

Article: High Court appointment

Nicholas Mostyn QC has been appointed  a High Court judge in the Family Division. He will replace Mr Justice Bennett, who is retiring. Mostyn was Called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1980 and took Silk in 1997. He was appointed a Recorder in 2000...

Article: Just for Kids Law

Shauneen Lambe, director of “Just for Kids Law” has been named by the World Economic Forum as one of the Young Global Leaders of 2010. She is a barrister of 12 years’ Call and currently works in-house at Lawrence & Co solicitors. 

Article: Justice for children

Children and young people have been asked to contribute to the government’s review of the family justice system.

Article: Keep child expert witnesses anonymous

Family Law Sir Nicholas Wall, the President of the Family Division, has called for the anonymity of experts to be maintained in family cases.

Article: Lack of respect is delaying the family courts

Delays getting longer caused by huge increase in scale of family breakdown Family judges have lost authority with the general public and this is contributing to “completely unacceptable” delays in the courts and damaging children’s welfare, a Family...

Article: Legal aid cuts could put children at increased risk

The Family Bar Association (FLBA) has presented the Ministry of Justice with a dossier of case studies showing the harm that could result if funding cuts to the legal aid system go ahead.

Article: Listen to the children

The results of a consultation with 35 children between the ages of three and seventeen that was undertaken by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner on behalf of the Family Justice Council (FJC) has shown that children involved in public and p...

Article: Mediation not confrontation

The Ministry of Justice is to carry out a wide-ranging review of the family justice system in England and Wales. The review—part of the cross-government “Families and Relationship Green Paper” launched in January—will look at ways to avoid...

Article: Ministers respond to Norgrove

FamilyThe Government has indicated that their aim is to legislate for a six month time limit to complete public law care and supervision cases.

Article: More family cuts

Funding for specialist advisers providing support in severe cases of family breakdown has been cut, in moves announced last month by the Ministry of Justice and Legal Services Commission. Lucy Theis QC, Chairman of the Family Law Bar Association,...

Article: New ADJ President

JudiciaryDistrict Judge Paul Mildred has warned the legal aid cuts will heap pressure on the courts, in his first public comments since becoming President of the Association of District Judges.

Article: New Family Division President

Sir Nicholas Wall has been appointed President of the Family Division, following the retirement of Sir Mark Potter in April. Sir Nicholas was Called to the Bar by Gray’s Inn in 1969 and took Silk in 1988. He was appointed to the Family Division of the...

Article: NewsBites

Mediation mattersSeparating couples will need to consider mediation before they can divorce in future, the Ministry of Justice has announced. The new policy could potentially lower the cost of divorce for the couples involved, as well as reducing the...

Article: No more blame

Family lawyers’ group Resolution has called for radical reform of the divorce laws.  Resolution is calling for amicable divorce on the grounds of “irretrievable breakdown” to be allowed after six months.

Article: Opening up the family courts

Opening the family courts to the media has now settled “into a kind of limbo of uncertainty” the President of the Family Division has said. Speaking about the changes in media reporting which allow accredited press the right to be present at private...

Article: Parliament puts spotlight on impact of family legal aid cuts on vulnerable children

PARLIAMENT played host to a high-level meeting on the impact of the Legal Services Commission’s proposed cuts to family legal aid on vulnerable children on 12 May 2009. Chaired by Baroness Butler-Sloss and Baroness Walmsley, the meeting gathered...

Article: Prioritising legal aid

The Ministry of Justice has announced plans to re-focus legal aid away from low value damages claims against public bodies or “hopeless” judicial reviews. Before legal aid is granted in divorce and child contact disputes, the LSC will contact opp...

Article: Revealed: the human cost of proposed cuts to family legal aid dossier of case studies submitted to ministers

THE potential human cost of denying vulnerable families and children access to expert legal support in care and related cases was revealed in a dossier of case studies, showing the difficulties which are already being encountered by family barristers...

Article: Time up on child care delays

FamilyThe Family Law Bar Association (FLBA) has welcomed the key points of the Norgrove Review.

Article: Training in family mediation

Family barThe Bar Council, in collaboration with ADR Group, is to offer barristers training in family mediation.

Article: WILLS AND SUCCESSION

The Commission's long-awaited private international law proposal is due out on 24 March. It is expected to cover not only applicable law, but also jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement. The Chancery Bar Association has been actively following...

Article: WILLS AND SUCCESSION

The Commission should have adopted its much anticipated proposal on jurisdiction and applicable law, etc, in this complex field, by the time of reading. If so, the UK has 3 months to decide whether to opt in to the proposal. The Chancery Bar will comment.

Article: ‘Lottery’ on contact

Family lawyers group Resolution is warning of a “post-code lottery” on child contact, following new powers for courts to order contact activities. Under s 1 of the Adoption and Children Act 2006, judges can order parents to attend mediation, workshops or...