The 'Secret' Family Court - Fact or Fiction?

Clifford Bellamy

• Publisher: Bath Publishing
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781739099282
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Family Law
• Index: Law

For approaching two decades, family courts have been accused of making life changing decisions about children and who they live with made in secret, away from the scrutiny of the public gaze. Recognising the force of these accusations, senior family courts judges have, over that time, implemented a raft of rule changes, pilot projects and judicial guidance aimed at making the family justice more accountable and transparent.

But has any progress been made? Are there still suspicions that family judges make irrevocable, unaccountable decisions in private hearings? And if so, are those suspicions justified and what can be done to dispel them?

In this important and timely new book, Clifford Bellamy, a recently retired family judge who has been at the sharp end of family justice during all these changes, attempts to answer those questions and more. He has spoken to leading journalists, judges and academic researchers to find out what the obstacles to open reporting are – be they legal, economic or cultural - and interweaves their insights with informed analysis on how the laws regulating family court reporting operate. Along the way he provides a comprehensive review of the raft of initiatives he has seen come and go, summarises the position now and uses this experience to suggest how this fundamental aspect of our justice system could adapt in the face of this criticism.

Every professional working in the family justice system – lawyers, social workers, court staff and judges - as well as those who job it is to report on legal affairs, should read this informative, nuanced exposition of what open justice means and why it matters so much to those whose lives are upended by the family justice system.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Preface
• Table of cases
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Chapter 2 Open Justice
• Chapter 3 Open Justice in the Family Court
• Chapter 4 Opening up the Family Court
• Chapter 5 Next Steps
• Chapter 6 Practice Guidance on Transparency
• Chapter 7 The Impact of the Practice Guidance
• Chapter 8 Who Should Be Named in Judgments?
• Chapter 9 The Media – the Facts of Life
• Chapter 10 The Media – Trust and Truth
• Chapter 11 Legal Blogging
• Chapter 12 Research and the Voice of the Child
• Chapter 13 Open Justice in Other Countries
• Chapter 14 The Child’s Right to Privacy
• Chapter 15 Reflections
• Recommendations
• Appendix A
• Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover