header-logo header-logo

Family pulls together

10 June 2020
Issue: 7890 / Categories: Legal News , Family , Covid-19 , Profession
printer mail-detail
‘The Road Ahead’ set out for family courts
Senior family judge, Sir Andrew McFarlane has set out a road map for remote working and social distancing in the family courts in the next six months.

The document, ‘The Road Ahead’, draws on a report into remote hearings in the family court published by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory in May. It advises family lawyers to assume social distancing restrictions will remain in place for ‘many months’ and the ‘normal court working environment’ will not be achieved until at least the end of 2020 or the spring of 2021. Consequently, ‘apparent potential unfairness’ which justified adjournment for a short period of time ‘must now be re-evaluated’.

Sir Andrew, President of the Family Division, said: ‘The need to achieve finality in decision-making for children and families, the detrimental effect of delay and the overall impact on the wider system of an ever-growing backlog must form important elements in judicial decision making alongside the need for fairness to all parties.’

However, various steps to reduce the potential for unfairness have been identified, which means more cases can proceed, he said. For example, the easing of lockdown gives lay parties the option of taking part in remote hearings from their solicitor’s office or other location where IT support is available.

Meanwhile, volumes of private and public cases have continued at pre-coronavirus levels, applications for domestic abuse injunctions have remained the same or, in certain inner-city areas, ‘significantly risen’. Sir Andrew predicted a ‘surge’ in child protection cases once more children came out of lockdown.

He urged judges and lawyers to keep submissions and judgments brief and relevant, as time is short. Read the full document at: bit.ly/3cQS39I.

Meanwhile, the High Court has begun a judicial review of the legal aid means test, brought by a domestic abuse victim denied legal aid because she co-owns her house with her former partner.

Law Society president Simon Davis said victims could not access the equity in their home and were left ‘navigating the court system alone and representing themselves in court against their abusive ex-partner’.

The Ministry of Justice was reviewing the legal aid means test before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Issue: 7890 / Categories: Legal News , Family , Covid-19 , Profession
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
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
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
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll