The Final Straw

Justice Secretary Jack Straw has announced the second tranche of reforms in respect of the opening up of the family courts, reports the Times. It is no surprise that the government has announced its plan to relax the law in respect of reporting restrictions after the widespread disappointment voiced by the media when it realised [...]

Family Legal Aid – Update

On Tuesday I attended a second meeting at the House of Lords, hosted by the Parliamentary Justice Committee, this time chaired by Lord Thomas of Gresford. The meeting was convened to consider further the topic: ‘Vulnerable Children at Risk: How Will The Legal Services Commission’s Proposals Help?, which it might be thought was a rather leading [...]

House of Lords Part Deux

Am up in the big stink for a second meeting regarding vulnerable children and legal aid. Will report more when I have more to report…

Not Pottering

I have it on good authority that the President of the Family Division Mark Potter is tonight going to be delivering some hard hitting remarks about the under-resourcing of the family justice system including the proposed reforms to family advocates at the Hershman / Levy Memorial Lecture tonight. Indeed he has probably already delivered them. [...]

Sharia Courts Criticised by Civitas

The Times reports on a recently published Civitas report which is critical of Sharia Courts and in particular the tensions between Sharia and human rights and the law in this jurisdiction. Of particular note for family lawyers or those interested in it is of course the community pressure which can bear upon muslim women, and [...]