*/
Plans to extend court sittings will disadvantage parents and affect women the most, the Bar Council has warned.
HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) announced a pilot initiative to introduce extra sittings at six courts, for six months from May. Crown courts will be open until 6pm, civil courts until 7pm and magistrates’ courts until 8.30pm.
Chairman of the Bar, Andrew Langdon QC, said: ‘These arrangements will make it almost impossible for parents with childcare responsibilities to predict if they can make the school run or to know when they will be able to pick children up from the child-minders. The biggest impact will be on women.’
He said: ‘Childcare responsibilities still fall disproportionately to women, many of whom do not return to the profession after having children. It is hard to see how these plans sit with the government’s commitment to improving diversity in the profession and the judiciary.’
Measures, he said, were needed to help women stay in the profession, rather than making it even more difficult to be a mother and a barrister at the same time.
Langdon said the plans also fail to take account of rules that self-employed barristers must follow when organising their work. He urged HMCTS to ensure that the impact on parents, and women in particular, is built into the evaluation criteria used to test the success of the pilots.
Plans to extend court sittings will disadvantage parents and affect women the most, the Bar Council has warned.
HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) announced a pilot initiative to introduce extra sittings at six courts, for six months from May. Crown courts will be open until 6pm, civil courts until 7pm and magistrates’ courts until 8.30pm.
Chairman of the Bar, Andrew Langdon QC, said: ‘These arrangements will make it almost impossible for parents with childcare responsibilities to predict if they can make the school run or to know when they will be able to pick children up from the child-minders. The biggest impact will be on women.’
He said: ‘Childcare responsibilities still fall disproportionately to women, many of whom do not return to the profession after having children. It is hard to see how these plans sit with the government’s commitment to improving diversity in the profession and the judiciary.’
Measures, he said, were needed to help women stay in the profession, rather than making it even more difficult to be a mother and a barrister at the same time.
Langdon said the plans also fail to take account of rules that self-employed barristers must follow when organising their work. He urged HMCTS to ensure that the impact on parents, and women in particular, is built into the evaluation criteria used to test the success of the pilots.
The Chair of the Bar reports back
Clement Cowley, Partner at The Penny Group, explains how global events can influence the performance of pensions and ISAs, and why taking a long-term approach to investing is often the most effective strategy
Mário Barroso, Head of R&D and Method Development at AlphaBiolabs, discusses what family law professionals need to know about hallucinogens, from the main hallucinogenic drugs encountered in family proceedings, to their effects and the testing options available
Harmony Christian Ministries is the latest charity to benefit from a £500 donation from AlphaBiolabs via the company’s Giving Back initiative
By David Green
Mário Barroso, Head of R&D and Method Development at AlphaBiolabs, examines the forensic science underpinning hair drug testing, its evidential scope and limitations, and why it remains the gold standard for evidencing patterns of drug use in family proceedings
Developing a tech start-up demands a different definition of excellence to the Bar, says Saara Idelbi. The co-creator of Advocatr on entrepreneurship, AI advocacy training, and matching the thrill of a killer cross-examination
At the start of her term, Chair of the Bar 2026 Kirsty Brimelow KC set out a series of priorities for the year ahead. One of those priorities was children in the justice system
As the world becomes more digital, Barbara Vinagre Mota examines international research into the mental health consequences of judges’ exposure to graphic and immersive evidence, highlighting the importance of support systems
Reviewed by Daniel Barnett
James McNeill Whistler at Tate Britain until 27 September Rothko in Florence at Palazzo Strozzi until 23 August Reviewed by Stephen Cragg KC
