Children: Public Law Update (March 2021) – Family Law Week
‘John Tughan QC of 4PB considers the latest judgments that Public law child lawyers need to know about.’
Family Law Week, 24th March 2021
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
Category: family courts
Unequal chances? Ethnic disproportionality in child welfare and family justice – Family Law
‘Many have experienced their own Black Lives Matter moment in the last 12 months, a sharp realisation of entrenched prejudices and inequalities that still exist in our society. In the family justice system that moment came last October when a black barrister, Alexandra Wilson, was mistaken for a defendant three times in one day. And yet, more generally there has been surprising little debate about the disproportionate numbers of families from some ethnic minorities in the family justice system and what might lie behind this.’
Family Law, 19th March 2021
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
Capitalisation of Child Maintenance: a very rare bird – Family Law Week
‘Jo Carr-West, partner with Hunters, considers the implications of Mr Justice Mostyn’s recent judgment in AZ v FM.’
Family Law Week, 16th March 2021
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
The Unequal Power to Grant and Remove PR from Biological Parents – Family Law Week
‘Stephen Williams, Barrister, St Mary’s Chambers, calls for reconsideration of the restrictions on the acquisition of parental responsibility by fathers.’
Family Law Week, 17th March 2021
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
Our Treatment of the Vulnerable – Challenges for the Family Justice System – Transparency Project
‘This is the text of a paper by Sir James Munby (lately President of the Family Division) delivered at the Royal Holloway University of London Symposium : “Inequality and Rights – Contemporary Challenges in the Child Protection and Family Justice Systems before and during the Pandemic”, which was held remotely on 16 March 2021. It is reproduced with kind permission.’
Transparency Project, 17th March 2021
Source: www.transparencyproject.org.uk
Judge orders children to be taken into long-term foster care over concerns about weight – Local Government Lawyer
‘A Family Court judge has made a care order for two children described as “severely overweight” to be taken into long-term foster care, following an application by West Sussex County Council.’
Local Government Lawyer, 15th March 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Barder: Where are we now? – Family Law
‘Few would have thought back on 1 March 2020 that we would, some 12 months later, be facing the first birthday of the strictest restrictions on personal freedoms in living memory. As we approach the anniversary of the first lockdown on 23 March 2020, it seems appropriate that we reconsider one of key questions of family lawyers back in Spring 2020, that of whether the pandemic was likely to satisfy the principles set down in the 1987 case of Barder v Barder [1987] 2 FLR 480. Unprecedented times, there is no doubt, but unprecedented enough to constitute a Barder event?’
Family Law, 12th March 2021
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
Contact after Findings of Domestic Abuse – Family Law Week
‘Teena Dhanota-Jones, Consultant at Simons Muirhead Burton, analyses a recent case involving the interplay of the law on contact and Practice Direction 12J on domestic abuse.’
Family Law Week, 10th March 2021
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
Judge says recent case shows how exceptional circumstances must be if court is to use its power to dismiss care proceedings without having heard all the evidence – Local Government Lawyer
‘A Family Court judge has refused applications to dismiss care proceedings at a half-way stage made by a number of people accused of sexual offences against children.’
Local Government Lawyer, 12th March 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Family, Drug and Alcohol Court launched to cover Birmingham and Solihull – Local Government Lawyer
‘The UK’s 12th Family, Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) – covering the Birmingham and Solihull areas – will hold its first hearings early this month.’
Local Government Lawyer, 3rd March 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
The Covid-19 Pandemic as a Barder Event – Family Law Week
‘Richard Kershaw, partner at Hunters Law LLP, considers the implications of Mr Justice Cohen’s judgment in FRB v DRC (No 3).’
Family Law Week, 25th February 2021
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
Domestic Abuse Bill – What does it mean for victims of domestic abuse in the family courts? – Garden Court Chambers
‘In the year ending March 2019, an estimated 2.4 million adults aged 16 to 74 years experienced domestic abuse in the last year (1.6 million women and 786,000 men). The government was elected with a manifesto commitment to pass the Domestic Abuse Bill, which passed the House of Commons in July 2020, and is set to become law once it has passed through the House of Lords.’
Garden Court Chambers, 24th February 2021
Source: www.gardencourtchambers.co.uk
Family Law Newsletter – Spire Barristers
‘Issue #43 of Spire Barristers’ Family Law Newsletter: edited by Connie Purdy and Taz Irshad; news and Case Reviews by Francesca Massarella. Francesca is due to begin pupillage at Spire Barristers in September 2021.’
Spire Barristers, 16th February 2021
Source: spirebarristers.co.uk
Litigants baffled as civil procedure rules move to new site – Law Society’s Gazette
‘Lawyers and litigants awoke this morning to the wholesale move of procedure rules to a government website described by one as “unusable”.’
Law Society's Gazette, 17th February 2021
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
Nuffield Family Justice Observatory to consult on use of supervision orders in care proceedings – Local Government Lawyer
‘The Nuffield Family Justice Observatory (FJO) has launched a consultation seeking views about supervision orders and their use in care proceedings.’
Local Government Lawyer, 17th February 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Judge hits out at lack of regulated placement for vulnerable, suicidal 16 year old, despite 11 High Court hearings and sending series of judgments to ministers – Local Government Lawyer
‘An exasperated High Court judge has sent a fourth judgment to ministers over the continuing unavailability of a regulated placement for a vulnerable 16 year old with multifaceted difficulties and at a high risk of serious self-harm or suicide.’
Local Government Lawyer, 12th February 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Alternative Dispute Resolution – Becket Chambers
‘The family courts were overwhelmed with cases prior to the Pandemic, leading to long delays and, perhaps most distressing to the parties engaged in this type of conflict resolution, last minute adjournments which can incur significant wasted costs, for which there is generally no recourse, together with the distress and anxiety associated with yet further, often prejudicial, delay in ending what is for most participants a highly unpleasant and distressing experience.’
Becket Chambers, 1st February 2021
Source: becket-chambers.co.uk
Practice Direction 12J & Scott Schedules – Rearranging a spider’s web – Family Law Week
‘Jeremy Ford, Partner at Cambridge Family Law Practice LLP, calls for clarity in the court’s attitude to Scott Schedules when considering what is relevant to its welfare determination.’
Family Law Week, 3rd February 2021
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
Domestic abuse victims stalked as family courts share refuge addresses with ex-partners, commissioner warns – The Independent
‘The family courts are putting domestic abuse victims and children at grave risk by sharing the secret addresses of shelters with the abusive ex-partner they are fleeing, and some survivors are suffering stalking as a result, London’s independent victims’ commissioner has warned.’
The Independent, 7th February 2021
Source: www.independent.co.uk
