Family

family

The judge in charge of the modernisation of family justice has called for “strong judicial leadership and management” when the new single family court is set up next year.

District Judge Nicholas Crichton has been described as “a family justice pioneer.” With funding for the Family Drug and Alcohol Court pilot scheme due to end on 31 March, he talks to Ffyon Reilly about its future.  

Nicholas Crichton has been the resident district judge at the Inner London Family Proceedings Court since 1997 and a district judge for 25 years. He chairs the Voice of the Child sub-committee of the Family Justice Council. He has worked internationally on various projects in the field of child protection, most notably in Bulgaria where he has visited all 28 family courts and visited many specialist institutions. He is a passionate advocate for children’s rights and was the driving force behind the setting up of the award winning Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) in 2008. I spoke with him at court early in January when the issue of future funding for FDAC was uncertain. 

Family

The Government has indicated that their aim is to legislate for a six month time limit to complete public law care and supervision cases.

Profession

Sir Nicholas Wall, President of the Family Division, has questioned the need to set up a Family Justice Service - a central plank of the Norgrove Review recommendations.

Family

The Family Law Bar Association (FLBA) has welcomed the key points of the Norgrove Review.

Family bar

The Bar Council, in collaboration with ADR Group, is to offer barristers training in family mediation.

The results of a consultation with 35 children between the ages of three and seventeen that was undertaken by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner on behalf of the Family Justice Council (FJC) has shown that children involved in public and private family law proceedings feel confused and are often given little explanation about what is happening.

Stephen Cobb QC looks at The Family Justice Review and the refreshingly positive view it takes of Family lawyers, and considers its implications

Every year, half a million people are involved in the family justice system, turning to it in times of great stress and conflict. But it is a system under great strain, with “shocking” delays in the resolution of cases (“little short of scandalous”); this is one of the key findings of the Family Justice Review (FJR) panel, chaired by David Norgrove, which has recently published its Interim Report. 

Children and young people have been asked to contribute to the government’s review of the family justice system.

Job title
Senior Clerk
14 Gray’s Inn Square

14 Gray’s Inn Square is predominantly a family law set with a strong reputation for representation in all aspects of family law, dealing with both children and financial proceedings. The set also undertakes work in civil law and administrative law proceedings including education, housing, immigration and mental health.

What are you doing to try to keep your members ahead of the curve with all the public funding cuts being made?