An election, some statistics and more
A week in family law So, we have a hung parliament. Quite what this will mean for family law and the various promises made by the parties is not at all clear, but I suspect that all talk of family law...
View ArticleLady Hale appointed President of the Supreme Court
Baroness Hale of Richmond has been appointed President of the Supreme Court. Less formally known as Lady Hale, the pioneering former barrister and High Court Judge will succeed Lord Neuberger of...
View ArticleSupreme Court appointments and judgments, and more
A WEEK IN FAMILY LAW Much to the disappointment of lawyers HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has announced that it is resurrecting the idea of flexible operating hours for courts. The idea will...
View ArticleHart v Hart in detail, part 1: did the law get it wrong on premarital assets?
The Court of Appeal’s judgment in Hart v Hart has now appeared on Bailii, about a week after the judgment was handed down and news of it spread across the mainstream and specialist media, and social...
View ArticleNew Supreme Court Deputy President is Lord Mance
Lord Mance has been appointed Deputy President of the Supreme Court, following the recent promotion of Baroness Hale to the Presidency. Jonathan Hugh Mance read law at Oxford before establishing...
View ArticleThe Supreme Court: Under new management (from Solicitors Journal)
This article was first published by Solicitors Journal on 05/09/17, and is reproduced by kind permission. The magazine closes at the end of September. From 2 October the Supreme Court will be under new...
View ArticleAutomatic pension rights for cohabitants: a step in the right direction? By...
Earlier this year we opened our doors to University of Winchester’s brightest law students and gave them some valuable time with Jennifer Williamson, one of our senior solicitors, learning about life...
View ArticleLady Hale takes office
Lady Hale was formally sworn in as the new President of the Supreme Court yesterday. Sir Ian Burnett became the youngest Lord Chief Justice for 50 years during the same event, replacing the newly...
View ArticleMIAMs, a domestic violence register and more
A week in family law I was grimly amused when I read the latest legal aid statistics, for the quarter April to June 2017, which show that the number of Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings...
View ArticleSad story of a young life lost and a clash of cultures
You never know what you’re going to find in the family law reports. The other day an old case from 1999 popped up on Bailii. It was a High Court case, heard by a certain Mrs Justice Hale (whatever...
View ArticleGuide to Jewish family life launched at the Supreme Court
Supreme Court President Lady Hale spoke at the launch of a new guide to Jewish traditions this week. Jewish Family Life and Customs: A Practical Guide was written for lawyers and judges in need for a...
View Article‘No evidence for funding early legal advice’ says Justice Minister
Justice Minister Dominic Raab has rejected calls for early legal advice to be made eligible for public funding. Last month the Law Society released the results of a poll which, they said, demonstrated...
View ArticleSupreme Court begins search for new Deputy President
The Supreme Court has begun looking for a new Deputy President, following news that the recently appointed Lord Mance will retire in June next year. Two current Justices – Lord Hughes and Lord Sumption...
View ArticleHas Lady Hale already decided the Owens appeal?
As someone who is approaching the tenth anniversary of joining Twitter (I really should get a life), I suppose I understand better than most the limitations of the platform for delivering serious...
View ArticleNo ‘special rules or indulgences’ for litigants in person
“Four years after I gave up practising legal aid was abolished for most private law family matters. As a result, now more than a third of all family court cases feature unrepresented litigants on both...
View ArticleAlfie Evans, court statistics, Cafcass and more
A short week in family law The parents of Alfie Evans, the 23 month-old boy who has been on ventilation in hospital after becoming seriously ill with a catastrophic and untreatable neurodegenerative...
View ArticleLady Hale gives her thoughts on family law reform
I had been waiting for the speech given by Lady Hale, the President of the Supreme Court, to the Manchester Family Law Conference in March to be published. Now, in a way, it has, as by her own...
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