header-logo header-logo

My three wishes for the new Labour Lord Chancellor

06 September 2024 / David Burrows
Issue: 8084 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Family , Child law
printer mail-detail
188164
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

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Red Lion Chambers—Maurice MacSweeney

Red Lion Chambers—Maurice MacSweeney

Set creates new client and business development role amid growth

Kingsley Napley—Tim Lowles

Kingsley Napley—Tim Lowles

Sports disputes practice launchedwith partner appointment

mfg Solicitors—Tom Evans

mfg Solicitors—Tom Evans

Tax and succession planning offering expands with returning partner

NEWS
The rank of King’s Counsel (KC) has been awarded to 96 barristers, and no solicitors, in the latest silk round
Can a chief constable be held responsible for disobedient officers? Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth, professor of public law at De Montfort University, examines a Court of Appeal ruling that answers firmly: yes
Early determination is no longer a novelty in arbitration. In NLJ this week, Gustavo Moser, arbitration specialist lawyer at Lexis+, charts the global embrace of summary disposal powers, now embedded in the Arbitration Act 1996 and mirrored worldwide. Tribunals may swiftly dismiss claims with ‘no real prospect of succeeding’, but only if fairness is preserved
The Ministry of Justice is once again in the dock as access to justice continues to deteriorate. NLJ consultant editor David Greene warns in this week's issue that neither public legal aid nor private litigation funding looks set for a revival in 2026
Civil justice lurches onward with characteristic eccentricity. In his latest Civil Way column, Stephen Gold, NLJ columnist, surveys a procedural landscape featuring 19-page bundle rules, digital possession claims, and rent laws he labels ‘bonkers’
back-to-top-scroll