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NLJ this week: Putting children first

24 November 2023
Issue: 8050 / Categories: Legal News , Family , In Court
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‘More than 80,000 children are presently caught up in Children Act 1989, Pt 2 proceedings, according to court statistics,’ writes David Burrows, NLJ columnist and family law solicitor-advocate

In this week’s NLJ, he raises concerns about various aspects of the workings of the 1989 Act, including listing delays and delays generally.

He asks what is meant by a ‘reasonable time’, and highlights the statutory presumption that delay is likely to prejudice a child’s welfare. While a target of 26 weeks has been set for local authority and care proceedings, however, the same time imperative does not apply to private law family cases.

Burrows writes: ‘All parties concerned with CA 1989 must surely get away from the destructive designation of two separate sets of legal principle according to “private” or “public” law, and both terms in this context should be outlawed. No distinction was intended by CA 1989.’ 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
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