New Legal Aid portal nearly ready
The new Legal Aid portal, which will replace the previous portal which was hacked by cyber attackers earlier this year, will see a three-phase restoration starting from ‘early September’ though to October. Responding to a Parliamentary written question Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services Sarah Sackman said she expected services to be restored […]
HMCTS reviewing the use of AI to ‘transform courts and tribunals’
His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service is actively reviewing and adopting artificial intelligence (AI) in its effort to moderns the courts and tribunals service said Gary O’Reilly, Chief Technology Officer in a blog on the HMCTS website. The service has started to pilot AI for transcription and summarisation, support the anonymisation of judgements and documents, […]
Bullying report a ‘moment of reckoning’ for the Bar
The report in to bullying and harassment within the Bar has concluded 36 recommendations to tackle what is described as a ‘culture of impunity’ by Baroness Harriet Harman KC, the report’s author. The review was commissioned in October 2024 in the wake of research data from the Bar Council’s biennial survey of the profession, Barristers’ […]
Potanin Court of Appeal decision opens door to ‘limitless’ divorce tourism
The ongoing case of Potanin v Potanina has taken an ‘unexpected’ turn after the The Court of Appeal overturned a previous decision to dismiss an application for leave under Part III Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 In its decision, the Court said Cohen J had ‘erred’ in dismissing Mrs Potanina’s application for leave, overturning […]
Family court denies permission to relocate child to Dubai, citing their holistic welfare
A family court has denied permission for a mother to relocate her child to Dubai, citing child’s welfare and the importance of maintaining his relationship with his father. His Honour Judge Willans made the ruling in the case SA v JR [2025] EWFC 279 (B) at the West London Family Court; a dispute between separated […]
Cyber crime risks posed by ‘sharenting’ as 45% share details of their children online
45% of parents share details of their children online, known as ‘sharenting’, and overestimate the effectiveness of privacy settings, leaving them and their children vulnerable to cyber crime. The warning come from the University of Southampton as thousands of back-to-school pictures of children are shared through social media platforms. Researchers have conducted the first study […]
Pets as property; the growing recognition of pets in separation
In this episode of the Today’s Family Lawyer podcast, host David Opie discusses the increasing number of disputes between separating partners when it comes to pets, and a new working group looking at amending legislation to bring it more in line with the challenges family professionals face on this emotive topic. Barrister Sarah Lucy Cooper, […]
A new safe and free legal AI tool for everyone
The high court warned lawyers that relying on fake AI-generated citations, even unknowingly, could lead them to face serious professional consequences and risk a wasted costs order. While legal professionals can face severe sanctions when using AI inappropriately, the public should not be left exposed either when they are using AI to understand and resolve […]