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06 September 2024 / David Burrows
Issue: 8084 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Family , Child law
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My three wishes for the new Labour Lord Chancellor

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Family law procedure from the genie’s bottle. In the first of two articles, David Burrows calls for change
  • Sets out author’s recommendations for changes to family procedure rules.
  • The first part of this short series covers the author’s call for Parkinson’s law to be applied to family proceedings and for an overhaul of procedure in children’s cases.
  • A second article will cover the author’s recommendation for Amicus-like help for family judges.

Were the new Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood KC MP, to appear before me as if a genie from a bottle, and offer me three wishes, what would I ask for in terms of family law procedural reform? I take as read that any Labour government would want to overhaul our broken legal aid system, so I will move on from that.

My list concentrates on case management and more effective use of judges’ time, and recalls the dire state of procedural law for mature children involved in court proceedings. All of this must be

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Keystone Law—Milena Szuniewicz-Wenzel & Ian Hopkinson

Keystone Law—Milena Szuniewicz-Wenzel & Ian Hopkinson

International arbitration team strengthened by double partner hire

Coodes Solicitors—Pam Johns, Rachel Pearce & Bradley Kaine

Coodes Solicitors—Pam Johns, Rachel Pearce & Bradley Kaine

Firm celebrates trio holding senior regional law society and junior lawyers division roles

Michelman Robinson—Sukhi Kaler

Michelman Robinson—Sukhi Kaler

Partner joins commercial and business litigation team in London

NEWS
The government has pledged to ‘move fast’ to protect children from harm caused by artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, and could impose limits on social media as early as the summer
All eyes will be on the Court of Appeal (or its YouTube livestream) next week as it sits to consider the controversial Mazur judgment
An NHS Foundation Trust breached a consultant’s contract by delegating an investigation into his knowledge of nurse Lucy Letby’s case
Draft guidance for schools on how to support gender-questioning pupils provides ‘more clarity’, but headteachers may still need legal advice, an education lawyer has said
Litigation funder Innsworth Capital, which funded behemoth opt-out action Merricks v Mastercard, can bring a judicial review, the High Court ruled last week
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