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27 November 2024
Issue: 8096 / Categories: Legal News , Family
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Changing lives at the Family Drug & Alcohol Court

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It is time to expand the Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC), Lord Peter Jackson has urged.

Speaking last week at the Family Drug and Alcohol Court Judges Conference at Inner Temple, London, Lord Peter Jackson said: ‘FDAC has indeed been resilient, but it remains worryingly small—perhaps available to only 2% of children in care cases.

‘There are many local authorities who would like an FDAC, and the judges in the family court are strongly in support.’

Lord Peter Jackson, lead judge for FDAC, said parents under FDAC jurisdiction were four times likelier to abstain while 52% of children returned to parents compared to 13% in standard care proceedings. He cited savings to the public purse, with every FDAC case saving ‘an average of £58,000 in state care costs, and £15,000 in legal costs’.

Issue: 8096 / Categories: Legal News , Family
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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Cripps—Radius Law

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Commercial and technology practice boosted by team hire

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Firm expands with new Grimsby office to serve North East Lincolnshire

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

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Property team boosted by two solicitor appointments

NEWS
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NLJ this week: Tightening the screws on JCT terminations
The Supreme Court has delivered a decisive ruling on termination under the JCT Design & Build form. Writing in NLJ this week, Andrew Singer KC and Jonathan Ward, of Kings Chambers, analyse Providence Building Services v Hexagon Housing Association [2026] UKSC 1, which restores the first-instance decision and curbs contractors’ termination rights for repeated late payment
NLJ this week: Old rules, fresh warnings in employment law
Secondments, disciplinary procedures and appeal chaos all feature in a quartet of recent rulings. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, examines how established principles are being tested in modern disputes
NLJ this week: The rise of the ‘ChatGPT client’ rattles the profession
The AI revolution is no longer a distant murmur—it’s at the client’s desk. Writing in NLJ this week, Peter Ambrose, CEO of The Partnership and Legalito, warns that the ‘AI chickens’ have ‘come home to roost’, transforming not just legal practice but the lawyer–client relationship itself
NLJ this week: Surrogacy children caught in succession gap
A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
NLJ this week: Online safety law at a crossroads
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
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