Procedure & practice

The Master of the Rolls, Sir Geoffrey Vos, and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, Lord Christopher Bellamy KC, have signed into effect the 154th Practice Direction update to the Civil Procedure Rules. 

The government has extended legal aid in private and public family law cases, and changed the evidential requirements for domestic abuse.

The chairman of the Manchester Arena inquiry has called for legislative change to ensure the participation of witnesses.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has launched a consultation on a series of reforms to the ‘Help with Fees’ remission scheme for court and tribunal fees, which aims to provide better targeted support for those on lower incomes.

The House of Commons Library has published guidance on 5 March 2023 on how constituents can contact their MPs to complain about personal conduct of judicial office holders and about courts, judges and legal professionals.

With the authority of the President of the Family Division, Mr Justice Peel, the national lead judge for the Financial Remedies Court, has nominated the circuit judges who from 6 April 2023 are permitted to refuse applications for permission to appeal in financial remedy proceedings without a hearing and, if the judge considers that the application is totally without merit, to make an order that the appellant may not request the decision to be reconsidered at a hearing.

Two rulebooks, both alike in dignity, in fair England’s courts, where we lay our scene.

David Burrows delves into the origins of the Family Procedure Rules 2010: how do they overlap with their civil counterparts?

Khawar Qureshi KC outlines key Arbitration Act 1996 cases in 2022

The ‘public interest’ justification for the right of any individual to bring disciplinary proceedings against any solicitor disappeared a long time ago, says John Gould