Following the posting of our news concerning access to the Family Courts by the media, we report that family lawyers have called on the government not to enact the measures contained in the Children, Schools and Families Act 2010. Those provisions would change to rules on the media reporting in Family Courts.

Many family solicitors feel that the provisions have not been given sufficient scrutiny.
 

As we have previously reported, the media has been allowed to report on the progress of family cases since April 2009 but the provisions of the above mentioned Act would extend this to allow journalists to report on details of individual cases.

In the first phase of the Act, most details will be reportable unless restricted by a judge but the identities of the parties and other sensitive personal information can only be reported with the judge’s permission.

The second phase will allow journalists to report sensitive information and the criteria will be changed to make it more difficult for judges to restrict reporting.
 

Resolution (of which the partners of this firm are members) have welcome a very thorough reconsideration of the changes.

We will keep you posted.