Matilda Battersby is a freelance journalist and editor, and a senior reporter at the Today’s Media titles. She worked at The Independent newspaper for many years, but has also worked at The Times, Evening Standard, Telegraph and I newspapers since going freelance in 2015. Her specialisms are property and books, having worked extensively for various trade property magazines and The Bookseller magazine. She is based in East London.
Two in five UK adults (38.9%) would pay a premium for private financial dispute resolution if it meant receiving a faster service or shorter waiting time, new research suggests. A survey of 1,000 UK adults,
The government has decided to stop referring to domestic abuse-related deaths as ‘domestic homicides’ in its statutory guidance. Instead of domestic homicide reviews (DHRs), it will use the term ‘domestic abuse related death reviews’, or
The prime minister has announced that specialist rape courts will be rolled out across England and Wales over the next two years. Rape cases will also be prioritised in the courts, in a bid to
The government has launched a new national taskforce to root out misogyny from across society, chaired by the minister for women and equalities, Bridget Phillipson (pictured). The taskforce will bring together experts from across the
The Law Society of England and Wales has welcomed the government’s new anti-money laundering and recovery strategy, but has warned about the potential for “increased burden” and duplication of work for solicitors and firms. The
A judge at Yeovil Financial Remedies Court (pictured) has described a man who transferred his remaining UK property into a trust for his sister in a bid to avoid paying overdue child maintenance for his
The Scottish government has launched a review of NHS access to IVF treatment to consider whether it should be extended to single women and couples who have children from previous relationships. As well as widening
Appeal judges at the High Court found that a judge at the East London family court’s “approach was flawed” after guardianship was awarded to a child’s foster carer without establishing if the threshold for permanent
A family court judge has concluded that a same-sex parent named on a child’s birth certificate, but who hasn’t taken other steps towards legal parentage, cannot apply for a child arrangement order because she doesn’t
The government has said it “is not in a position to bring forward legislation on surrogacy reform” but will consider “options for future reform” following a debate in Parliament triggered by a public petition. The
A bill intended to make provision about support for infants, parents, carers of infants, and prospective parents and carers has passed its second reading and will move onto committee stage. The Infants, Parents and Carers
The incoming Law Society president has called for greater openness around disability in the legal sector. Brett Dixon, who will take up the post from October 2026, said improving disability inclusion is one of the
The Law Society of England and Wales has warned that the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) complaints handling proposals could “increase administrative burden without delivering clear benefits for consumers”. The SRA recently consulted for a second
A judge has ordered a husband to pay his wife £110,000 after he failed to “provide a scintilla of accurate disclosure” about his assets and acted in a “deliberate and calculated” way to leave his
New research shows that 94% of lawyers use Artificial Intelligence (AI) for legal work, with 74% using it at least once a week and 34% using it every day. One in 10 (10%) of the
The Law Society has raised “serious concerns” over proposed changes to fees for the Legal Ombudsman. The 12 week consultation period on The Office for Legal Complaints’s (OLC) proposed changes to the Legal Ombudsman’s (LeO)
A family court judge has agreed to the “exceptional course” of suspending all contact between a father and his child for three years to allow the mother time to recover from complex-post traumatic stress disorder
A deputy High Court judge has handed down a judgment enforcing the terms of a pre-nuptial agreement in a case where the wife removed the signed copy of the agreement from the husband’s study and
The Court of Appeal has stayed an abduction order for a child to be returned to his father in Texas and ordered the case to be reconsidered six weeks after the birth of the child’s
A barrister has been disbarred for making audio recordings of court hearings in family proceedings and harassing an employee with confidential mental health issues over WhatsApp. The Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service heard three misconduct
Nearly a quarter of the population of England and Wales lives in an area classed as a ‘legal aid desert’, new research reveals. Analysis of local authority data by LexisNexis suggests that 14.49 million people,
Alex Norris has become the first non-lawyer to be granted the post of Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice in a Labour government. The MP for Nottingham North and Kimberley, who on Monday
The Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal by parents against an adoption order for their children after they highlighted a “procedural irregularity”. The Family Court at Portsmouth approved an adoption plan for two children,
Legal aid rates for family mediators, which have remained frozen for 25 years, must be improved to “ease pressure on family courts”, the Family Mediation Council (FMC) has warned. The organisation is calling for urgent
The government has announced default overnight curfews and the switch-off of addictive features to protect 16 and 17-year-olds on social media. The plans follow Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement in mid-June that the UK
Children’s cases referred to the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Services (Cafcass) rose 9.7% in the last year, according to the latest figures. In the three months from 1 April 2026 to 30
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) report has found that sanctuary schemes “play an increasingly important role” in enabling survivors of domestic abuse to “remain safely in their homes” – but that
A Family Court judge has given approval for a parental order to be made for a British couple following complications arising from a child being born to a surrogate in Minnesota, USA. One of the
Nagalro has welcomed the Independent Review of Social Work Professional Regulation in England but argues that proposed reforms should go further when it comes to family procedure rules in courts. The review by Dame Annie
Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data reveals the number of Black judges has remained “disappointingly stagnant”. The diversity of the judiciary statistics for 2026 show Black judges make up only 1.6% of the judiciary, up slightly
A judge for the family division of the High Court has given permission for a “blameless” couple who had fertility treatment in Sri Lanka to apply for an adoption order after it was discovered that
A new report calls on the government to embed a recognition of kinship care and understanding of trauma into its special educational needs (SEND) reforms. The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Kinship Care report,
The widow of a “giant of the legal profession in Birmingham” has lost her appeal against a 28-day suspended prison sentence for contempt. Sophie Fleming was previously found to have harassed the executors of her
The solicitor general has announced a national rollout of the Victims’ Right to Review scheme a year on from its launch. Following a successful pilot launched in the West Midlands in June 2025, rape and
Most parents who go to court to make arrangements for their children do not return to court, according to new research by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory. The new report, Routes Through Court for Families
A petition calling for parents convicted of abuse to automatically lose parental responsibility has attracted more than 13,500 signatures. The petition, which has three months still remaining, could potentially trigger a Parliamentary response or debate