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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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