Family

The Chancellor plans to cut 15% from the civil service budget in the next five years. How would this affect the courts and justice system? In this week’s NLJ, Mark Jones, partner, and Alex Curran, senior associate, Payne Hicks Beach, look at the potential impact from a range of perspectives if the Ministry of Justice budget is cut by 15%, including the criminal courts—where the backlog is so extreme that ‘at Snaresbrook Crown Court, trials for suspects on bail are currently being listed in November 2028’.

More separating couples are turning to a one-lawyer approach, according to family practitioners.

Marie Law, Head of Toxicology at AlphaBiolabs, discusses the many benefits of oral fluid drug testing for child welfare and protection matters

Join us on Monday 14 April at 12pm for a live Q&A panel where our experts tackle common misconceptions surrounding hair strand drug and alcohol testing

A lack of resources has left many families at a loss when it comes to legal advice: now, an innovative law library, Courtney Legal, is providing answers

An innovative law library and a scheme to match pro bono lawyers with experts both feature in this week’s NLJ, in a charity and pro bono double-bill. First up, Team Courtney explain how Courtney Legal works and how it can benefit early-career lawyers as well as members of the public.

A route to justice or a concern for clients? Alexandra Hirst weighs up the benefits & risks of the transparency pilot scheme

Finally, the press can report from the family courts. In this week’s NLJ, Alexandra Hirst, senior associate, Boodle Hatfield, weighs up the pros and cons of the transparency pilot scheme in financial remedy proceedings

In an unusual case, a father recently called habeas corpus on behalf of his own children who had been placed in foster care. In this week’s NLJ, Nicholas Dobson covers The Father v Worcestershire County Council in which the Supreme Court discussed the application of the ancient writ in a very modern setting.

Is there any room for habeas corpus in the modern regime surrounding care orders? Only very exceptionally, the Supreme Court has ruled: Nicholas Dobson reports