header-logo header-logo

£11.5m boost for Pathfinder courts

05 February 2025
Issue: 8103 / Categories: Legal News , Family , Mediation
printer mail-detail
The family justice Pathfinder courts pilot will expand into Mid and West Wales next month and West Yorkshire in June, ministers have announced.

The pilot, which has halved family court backlogs, currently operates in Dorset, North Wales, South East Wales and Birmingham. It aims to minimise hostility and reduce the number of hearings by bringing local authorities, police and support services together to share information at an early stage. It provides specialist support to domestic abuse victims.

Since being launched in 2022, the Pathfinder courts pilot has reduced the average case length from 29 weeks to 18 in North Wales, and 38 weeks to 27 in Dorset.

Bar chair Barbara Mills KC last month urged the government to prioritise funding for Pathfinder, ‘an innovative approach that we know works’.

The Ministry of Justice also extended to March 2026 the family mediation vouchers scheme, which gives couples £500 worth of mediation to help settle issues.

Law Society president Richard Atkinson said the benefit of focusing on early resolution ‘seems clear’.

Issue: 8103 / Categories: Legal News , Family , Mediation
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
The Court of Protection has ruled in Macpherson v Sunderland City Council that capacity must be presumed unless clearly rebutted. In this week's NLJ, Sam Karim KC and Sophie Hurst of Kings Chambers dissect the judgment and set out practical guidance for advisers faced with issues relating to retrospective capacity and/or assessments without an examination
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
back-to-top-scroll