Victoria Cannon explores rules and principles around a new pilot allowing journalists and bloggers to report in family courts

At the end of January, a reporting pilot was introduced in the family courts in Cardiff, Leeds and Carlisle, following a review of transparency in the family courts by Sir Andrew Mcfarlane, President of the Family Division. 

The pilot is part of a wider project to achieve “Confidence and Confidentiality” in the family courts. The review acknowledged that “the last few years …. has undermined public confidence in the family divisional justice system, because we usually conduct our business behind closed doors effectively, and journalists cannot report what is said, it has allowed suspicion to grow.”   

To enable the pilot, which is only one of the recommendations emerging from...

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