A report into the progress of the £1 billion modernisation programme of the UK’s justice system has been published by the National Audit Office. The report concludes that HM Courts and Tribunals Service is facing “a daunting challenge in delivering the scale of technological and cultural change necessary to modernise the administration of justice, and […]

The Nuffield Foundation is to launch a ‘Family Justice Observatory’, a research hub that “will support the best possible decisions for children by improving the use of data and research evidence in the family justice system in England and Wales.” The Foundation has appointed a team led by Professor Karen Broadhurst at Lancaster University to […]

Enabling people to apply for a divorce online could eliminate up to 13,000 hours of time spent by court staff checking divorce petitions, according to a senior civil servant who was responsible for several family justice reforms. Adam Lennon, head of family modernisation and improvement at HM Courts & Tribunals Service, told a Westminster Legal […]

The Ministry of Justice has suggested that its long-awaited report reviewing the effects of the legal aid cuts of 2013 may not be published this year. Speaking at an all-party parliamentary group on legal aid Matthew Shelley, a deputy director at the Ministry of Justice, said that his team will aim to finalise its ‘staff […]

A judgment in a child care and adoption case has been widely praised for being written in plain English, and in a way that is easily understandable by non-lawyers, and in particular the child’s parents. In the case Jack (A Child : care and placement orders) Deputy District Judge Reed, sitting in the family court […]

The application by the parents of Alfie Evans to the European Court of Human Rights (‘ECHR’) has been declared inadmissible. Alfie has been on ventilation in hospital after becoming seriously ill with a catastrophic and untreatable neurodegenerative condition. His parents were seeking to overturn a decision that the NHS Trust may withdraw life-support from Alfie. […]

The Supreme Court has refused permission for the parents of Alfie Evans, the 22 month-old boy who has a degenerative neurological condition, to appeal to the Court against the decision that the NHS Trust may withdraw life-support from Alfie. A panel of Supreme Court justices headed by the President Lady Hale found that the proposed […]

A husband has been issued with a restraining order to stop him from contacting his former wife’s solicitor on her private email address. Mr Justice Mostyn made the order after the husband, despite being subject to a civil restraint order, bombarded the court, Mr Justice Mostyn’s clerk, the wife’s solicitor and the wife’s barrister with […]

Women’s Aid, the charity working to ensure women’s safety from domestic violence, has published a report looking at service provision and the needs of women and children who are victims of domestic abuse. Amongst other things, the report found that only 28% of women using community-based services, such as drop-in services and counselling support, reported […]

The Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, has unveiled a raft of proposals relating to the treatment of domestic abuse survivors in court, including making them automatically eligible for special measures, such as giving evidence behind screens. The proposals will form part of a consultation on what to include in a forthcoming domestic abuse bill. Some practitioners […]