Posts
The parent trap: the legal conundrum of surrogacy
This is a guest post by Salomé Ashenden. Salomé holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Law (PGDL) from BPP University and an MSc in Science Communication from Imperial College London. She has experience working as a paralegal and supporting litigants in person, and is due to...
Who is listening to child victims of sexual abuse in private law proceedings?
A new report on research undertaken by Jaime Lindsey (Associate Professor in Medical Law, Oriel College, Oxford) and Joanna Harwood (Lecturer, Essex University Law School) makes a number of recommendations regarding private family law proceedings in England and Wales...
Finding a journalist to attend your family court hearing – update
The new scheme of matching requests for a reporter and journalists who are interested in family court reporting is now up and running - Courting Coverage with The Bureau of Investigative Journalism. We wrote about this initiative earlier this month. If you have an...
An observation of a domestic abuse fact finding hearing – a worrying vignette
A much delayed legal blogpost – an explanation In October 2024 I visited the Central Family Court in London. My objective was to observe a hearing before the magistrates. At the time, the Reporting Pilot was in operation and there had been almost no reporting of...
The end of unregulated ‘expert’ witnesses in family courts?
New family court rules spark hope that the ‘days of bogus experts are over': Changes coming into effect this month will keep unregulated experts out of courts in all but exceptional cases is the headline from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) on 10 July....
Legal blogging in Brighton Family Court: Overreach and Overrun?
I went to Brighton Family Court in April 2026, as a legal blogger for a public legal education charity. I observed the Pre-Hearing Review (PHR) of a mother’s 2024 application to vary a contact order made in 2022. This was the fourth set of proceedings between the...
Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup: June 2026
Welcome to the Roundup, where we correct, clarify and comment on media reports of family law, explain and comment on published family court judgments, and highlight other transparency news. MEDIA COVERAGE OF FAMILY LAW, TRANSPARENCY etc The Law Society...
Finding a journalist to attend your family court hearing
We get many requests to The Transparency Project for one of our legal bloggers to attend court hearings and/or to suggest a journalist who can attend and report. We at TP have limited capacity as we're volunteers and, although we know a few excellent journalists with...
Relocation: change in habitual residence during proceedings
Last month I attended an online hearing in Slough Family Court where the issue for the judge was whether the English court still had jurisdiction regarding a mother’s application, or whether family court proceedings should instead take place in Poland, where her son...
Parental responsibility and ‘do not resuscitate’: A view from the courtroom
This is a guest post by Harriet Humberstone, a law student who begins her Bar professional course this September. Harriet has a particular interest in representing children in both private and public law This is my account of a family court hearing I attended as a...