“Big cultural change” pilots journalists reporting in family courts
A new trial to “improve transparency and accountability” in family courts will see journalists being able to report on certain family court proceedings for the first time. The Transparency Reporting pilot will take place in 3 courts; Leeds, Carlisle, and Cardiff, starting from 30th January 2023. The decision follows the review of transparency in the […]
Surrogacy: CA provides “essential guidance” on consent requirements within HFEA 2008
The Court of Appeal has provided what has been described as “essential guidance” on the consent requirements of s54(6) of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (“HFEA 2008”). In its ruling in Re C (Surrogacy: Consent) [2023] EWCA Civ 16, the Court considered, for the first time, these consent requirements, ie the requirement that […]
Children born as a result of rape enshrined as victims in law
The Ministry of Justice has announced that children born as a result of rape will be officially recognised as victims of crime following recommendations from the Justice Select Committee on the government’s draft Victims Bill in September 2022 The current position is vague. A lack of explicit reference to children born as a result of […]
Fines totalling £25,000 highlight risk of non-compliance
Four SRA regulated law firms have fallen foul of Anti-Money Laundering and Transparency regulations and received fines totalling over £25,000. Some of the first published fines are now coming light following the extension of SRA fining powers in July 2022, which empowered the SRA to fine firms for a broad range of offences without having […]
Update: Submitting contested financial remedy applications using MyHMCTS
From Tuesday 31st January 2023, legal representatives must submit and manage applications for contested financial remedy online using MyHMCTS. Documents and orders must be uploaded to the online service and will no longer be accepted at local courts. There will be a transition period from Wednesday 1st February to Tuesday 28th February 2023. After this […]
Legal Aid Agency tweaks eligibility rules to disregard cost of living payments
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) has announced changes to the legal aid eligibility rules to ensure those receiving cost of living payments are not disadvantaged when applying for legal aid. The payments which will be disregarded from 10 January 2023 are being made under the: Energy Prices Act 2022 Social Security (Additional Payments) Act 2022 […]
Diary of a legal aid lawyer: Why we need to be trauma-informed
As family lawyers, we support clients through the worst that life can bring. Whether that’s the end of a relationship or abusive behaviour, it’s usually what brings them to us in the first place. We need to understand trauma and how it affects how someone functions, and the first step is to become a trauma […]
The role of an intermediary in family law courts
In this latest Today’s Family Lawyer podcast host David Opie is joined by Paula Backen. Paula is a qualified speech and language therapist and started working as an intermediary just over 10 years ago. Since the set up of registered intermediaries for criminal witnesses in 2003, the role of the intermediary has developed but is […]
The Ombudsman’s Corner: January 2023
Happy New Year everyone and welcome to the first “Ombudsman’s Corner” of 2023. In the last column, I set out details of the changes we are making to our Scheme Rules on 1st April 2023 with regards to our time limits. This time, I am going to explain how we are changing our rules in […]
