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Legislation
The key pieces of domestic English and Welsh legislation addressing family law are the Marriage Act 1949, the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, the Children Act 1989, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, the Adoption and Children Act 2002, the Family Law Act 1996, the Human Rights Act 1998, and the Trust of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 although it will be necessary to touch on many others. As with all legislation, we recommend that you avoid legislation.gov.uk, and instead refer to a subscription database such a Lexis or Westlaw. This will ensure that you are working with an up-to-date version.
ONS Statistical Bulletin, Families and Households in the UK
Trends in living arrangements including families (with and without dependent children), people living alone and people in shared accommodation, broken down by size and type of household.
Supreme Court Justices’ Speeches
Selection of speeches including several on family law. We recommend: Lord Hope on ‘Family Law in the UK Supreme Court’ (2011); Lady Hale, ‘Who’s Afraid of Children’s Rights?’ (2013); Lady Hale, ‘What Are Care Proceedings For?’ (2013); Lady Hale, ‘New Families and the Welfare of Children’ (2013); Lord Wilson, ‘Adoption: Complexities beyond the Law’ (2014); Lord Wilson, ‘Marriage Is Made for Man, not Man for Marriage’ (2014); Lady Hale, ‘Are We Nearly There Yet?’ [on children in proceedings] (2015); Lord Sumption, ‘Family Law at a Distance’ (2016); Lord Neuberger, ‘The Plight of the Unmarried’ (2017); Lord Wilson, ‘Changes over the Centuries in the Financial Consequences of Divorce’ (2017); Lady Hale, ‘What is a 21st Century Family?’ (2019); Lady Hale, ’30 Years of the Children Act 1989’ (2019).
The Guardian: Collection of Articles on Family Law
It is important to keep up to date with issues in family law. These will ensure your essays demonstrate a critical awareness of current issues, and will assist at training contract or pupillage interviews.
Charity aimed at making family law clearer. Posts articles explaining cases and correcting inaccurate media reports. Good, clear, explanations of legal issues.
Blog by Andrew Pack, a local authority lawyer. He writes about care and adoption cases with humour and pop culture references. His posts have been used for judicial training and mentioned in judgments.
Pink Tape: A Blog from the Family Bar
Blog by barrister and deputy district judge Lucy Reed, author of Family Court without a Lawyer. She blogs about family law issues. Read by Munby P.
Useful source of judgments and articles on aspects of family law, written by barristers, solicitors, and academics.
NB We generally do not recommend using law firms’ websites as source for research. Firms often paraphrase and simplify, which can lead students astray. These blogs, while they explain the law clearly, are carefully written by experts in their field for use by other lawyers.
Legal Twitter
Twitter has a surprisingly good family law presence, including lots of QCs and academics, often discussing and arguing about cases, including their own!