View from the President’s Chambers: the Process of Reform

Sir James Munby, President of the Family Division, reiterates the message being given as he embarks upon his tour of every care centre in the country. He discusses the reforms currently being faced by the family judicial system: the creation of the new single Family Court, the work done for the Family Justice Review by David Norgrove and improving access to and reporting of family proceedings with increased transparency.

He outlines the major challenges brought about by current reforms including restrictions on public funding in the field of private law and the two key reforms in the field of public law, namely, that care cases are to be concluded within 26 weeks and that expert evidence is to be restricted to what is 'necessary'.

He concludes by saying that neither the 26-week limit nor the new approach to expert evidence 'will prejudice the quality of justice'.    

The full version of this article appears in the May 2013 issue of Family Law.

Read the full article here.