Category: Judiciary

WALES/ENGLAND – New Lord Chief Justice

Sir John Thomas will become the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from today, following the retirement of The Rt Hon The Lord Judge yesterday.     A peerage of the United Kingdom for Life has been conferred on the Rt Hon Sir Roger John Laugharne Thomas upon his appointment in recognition of the …

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WALES/ENGLAND – Holman J judgment starkly illustrates troubling effect of legal aid cuts

Lack of representation impacts on court time     Mr Justice Holman has described graphically the practical implications for the family courts of the continuing legal aid cuts. In his judgment in Tufail v Riaz [2013] EWHC 1829 (Fam) he quoted from the recent public lecture to the Institute for Government by Lord Neuberger of …

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Permanent link to this article: https://operationfatherhood.org/legal-aid/walesengland-holman-j-judgment-starkly-illustrates-troubling-effect-of-legal-aid-cuts/

WALES/ENGLAND – Judge calls for more transparency in family courts

The most senior family judge in England and Wales has demanded more transparency in the courts after rejecting social workers’ attempts to silence a father whose baby was taken into care against his will.   Sir James Munby, president of the Family Division of the High Court, said the public had a right to know …

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Permanent link to this article: https://operationfatherhood.org/family-law-private/judiciary/walesengland-judge-calls-for-more-transparency-in-family-courts/

WALES/ENGLAND – Family judge criticises reliance on free representation

The president of the Family Division has criticised a legal aid regime that left a mother who faced jail reliant on her lawyers’ willingness to act for free.   Dismissing an application by the solicitor general for Jennifer Marie Jones to be committed to prison for failing to comply with an order made in Hague …

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Permanent link to this article: https://operationfatherhood.org/legal-aid/walesengland-family-judge-criticises-reliance-on-free-representation/

WALES/ENGLAND – Lord Justice Thorpe retires

Lord Justice Thorpe, Head of International Family Justice for England and Wales, retires from the judiciary on 30 July, his 75th birthday.  The Rt Hon Sir Mathew Thorpe was called to the Bar, Inner Temple, in 1961. He took Silk in 1980 and, thereafter specialised in family law. He was Counsel to the Cleveland Inquiry, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://operationfatherhood.org/uncategorized/walesengland-lord-justice-thorpe-retires/