Lady Hale’s address to the ALC conference – children giving evidence

On 20November 2015 Deputy President of the Supreme Court Lady Hale gave the key note address at the Annual Conference of the Association of Lawyers for Children (ALC) which was held in Manchester. 

In her address Lady Hale discussed the issue of children giving evidence in family proceedings noting that in the past it was considered unusual for a child to be present in court.  By way of example she referred to the comments of Mr Justice Waite as he then was in Re C (A Minor) (Care: Child’s wishes) [1993] 1 FLR 832 that a 13-year-old girl who had been present in court with the support of her guardian in proceedings about her had seemed ‘preoccupied and who can blame her with her toys and colouring books’.

Lady Hale indicated that she did not find that at all surprising and humorously shared that her husband would sometimes sit in the public gallery of the Supreme Court where he often observed the junior lawyers sitting behind...

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