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20 November 2008
Issue: 7346 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice
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Very beaky

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Civil Way

Family advocates should be ready to spend more time in the magistrates’ courts. The ethos behind the Allocation and Transfer of Proceedings Order 2008 (SI 2008/2836) which substantially comes into force on 25 November 2008, and the complementary President’s Practice Direction (PD) issued on 3 November 2008 is to push more private law family work under the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) and Pt IV of the Family Law Act 1996 (FLA 1996) down to magistrates and hope that they keep it. The aim is have a quarter of these cases heard by the beaks. The Children (Allocation of Proceedings) Order 1991 (SI 1991/1677) and the Family Law Act 1996 (Part IV) (Allocation of Proceedings) Order 1997 (SI 1997/1896), with their amendments, and the Children (Allocation of Proceedings) (Appeals) Order 1991 (SI 1991/180) are repealed in their entirety. So:

Among those proceedings that must now be started in a magistrates’ court are for parental responsibility by father or step-parent unless a ChA 1989, s 8 application is made at the same time or the child is

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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
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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’
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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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