Family

Rachel Davenport, Co-founder and Director at AlphaBiolabs, discusses the role that Drug, Alcohol and DNA testing can play in non-court dispute resolution   

Pathfinder or ‘problem-solving’ courts should be rolled out across England and Wales to help meet the government’s aim of halving violence against women and girls (VAWG) within a decade, Bar chair Barbara Mills KC has urged.

The family courts are increasingly ready to impose costs orders as a result of poor behaviour or misleading evidence, say Stowe Family Law senior associates Siobhan Vegh and Natalie Nero, and solicitor Rebecca Sutton. Writing in this week’s NLJ, Vegh, Nero and Sutton talk us through a recent example, the divorce and financial remedies case, NW v BH.

Family practitioners should be aware of the courts’ increasing readiness to impose costs orders as a result of poor behaviour or misleading evidence: Siobhan Vegh, Natalie Nero & Rebecca Sutton highlight a recent example

Candid camera? Henry Venables highlights the increasing sophistication of spyware in family cases

Family law moved fast last year, with a renewed focus on non-court dispute resolution, more transparency and new protections for domestic abuse victims. And there’s more to come in 2025, as Ruth Omoregie, associate solicitor, and Lola Ajayi, solicitor at Anthony Gold, write in this week’s NLJ.

A family lawyer has won a £500 donation for her preferred charity, an education centre for women from disadvantaged backgrounds, thanks to drug, alcohol and DNA testing laboratory AlphaBiolabs’ Giving Back campaign

The reporting pilot has been deemed successful and will roll out to all family courts in England and Wales

Ruth Omoregie & Lola Ajayi round up the key developments in family law in 2024, & consider what may lie in store for the year ahead

Casey Randall, Head of Genetics at AlphaBiolabs, explores what makes the award-winning laboratory the industry leader for court-admissible DNA testing