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Time to make family law clear

09 January 2019
Issue: 7823 / Categories: Legal News , Divorce , Child law , Family
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The ‘turgid style’ of the procedure rules in the family courts makes the law so opaque it prevents access to justice, a prominent family law solicitor has claimed.

Writing in NLJ this week, solicitor and NLJ columnist David Burrows gives as example FPR 2010 Pt 16 (representation of children), much of which ‘is a repetition, with convoluted and confusing complexity, of the 1991 rules’. As for Pt 9 (finance), Burrows says ‘working out who is a party to children proceedings (a table with three columns and 34 rows) requires specialised skills’.

Burrows outlines ten reforms he would introduce, ranging from the reintroduction of legal aid for private family law cases to mediation, which ‘must not be compulsory, ever’ but ‘must be an established part of the court process, running in parallel—where proceedings have been started—with the litigation process’.

His suggestions include a ‘clear, workable’ set of disclosure rules for family cases and the replacement of the Child Support Act 1991 with a simpler system.

Issue: 7823 / Categories: Legal News , Divorce , Child law , Family
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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
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, 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
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
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
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
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