What is Transparency?

Noun :
1 the transparency of the glass, translucency, limpidity, clearness, clarity
2 colour transparencies: slide, acetate.
the new government aims for better transparency : openness, accountability, straightforwardness, candour.

Transparency for us is all about helping to make the work of the Family Court more visible and more understandable. We think that’s about providing information and about explaining information.

Who is behind the project?

We are a group of practising lawyers, legal bloggers, legal academics and legal publishers with an interest in public legal education, the provision of good quality, accessible information about the work of the Family Court – and in the ways in which transparency can be achieved without compromising the welfare of vulnerable children and adults involved in court cases.

What is it for?

The aim of the project is to shed some light on the workings of the Family Courts, to make the process and the cases understandable for people without law degrees.

Our aim is to make things a bit clearer so that you can make up your own mind about the Family Court and the decisions it makes, not to push a particular view or agenda.

The idea for the project was first set out in a blog post on the Pink Tape Blog : Proto Manifesto. Since then a group of practising and academic lawyers have come together to work out the “what next”. This site represents our working notes.

In January 2015 the project became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and in April 2015 The Transparency Project achieved registered charitable status.

The objects of the Transparency Project as set out in its constitution are : 

  1. To advance the education of the public in the subject of family law and its administration, including the family justice system in England and Wales and the work of the family courts, in particular but not exclusively through the provision of balanced, accurate and accessible information about the work of family courts and the facilitating of public discussions and debates which encompass a range of viewpoints.      
  2. To promote the sound administration and development of the law in England and Wales, in particular, family law, by encouraging and contributing to the transparency of processes in the family justice system, contributing to public legal education concerning family law and matters of family justice, enhancing access to justice in matters of family law and by such other means as the trustees may determine.

You can find our core documents and basic information here.