Under the Transparency Implementation Group Reporting Pilot, the courts will operate under a presumption that accredited media and legal bloggers can report on what they see and hear during family cases, subject to rules on anonymity. Judges taking part in the pilot will make a ‘transparency order’ setting out the rules of what can and cannot be reported.
Journalists have been able to attend some closed hearings since 2018 but could not report on proceedings unless the judge agreed to vary the automatic reporting restrictions in place.
Sir Andrew McFarlane, the president of the Family Division, said: ‘The aim of the pilot is to understand the impact of open reporting and to enhance public confidence, whilst at the same time firmly protecting continued confidentiality.’
Jon Yates, family law solicitor at Ashfords, said: ‘This news will potentially cause panic, but fear not.
‘It should be noted that not all types of proceedings can be reported on, and the media will be reliant on tips-offs, or sitting at court all day, to be aware of when those most interesting hearings—or in all likelihood those of celebrities—will be going ahead. Those cases which are reported on will be subject to strict rules in terms of what can be printed which will only likely further reduce interest.’
However, Graham Coy, partner at Wilsons Solicitors, said: ‘Family breakdown, sorting out arrangements for children and resolving the financial issues are by their very nature extremely worrying and distressing and in this context are private and should remain so. Who benefits? Certainly not our clients.’
Coy added that the presence of the press could place clients ‘under pressure to reach a settlement on almost any terms’.
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