Dorothea Gartland examines recent developments surrounding public law for children
Three recent Court of Appeal cases are of relevance to the lawyer practising in the area of public law for children. The first concerns legal professional privilege and the second and third cases involve the court’s jurisdiction to make injunctions.
Legal professional privilege
The case of Re D (A Child) [2011] EWCA Civ 684, [2011] 4 All ER 434 concerned a fact-finding hearing in care proceedings where a child had suffered several fractures. At the outset of proceedings, neither parent said they were culpable for the injuries and neither parent blamed the other for causing the injuries. The judge was facing the task of finding the material facts relating to the child’s injuries and trying to identify the perpetrator of those injuries.
A month before the fact-finding hearing the mother attended court and obtained an ex parte injunction against the father, alleging violence and threats by the father against her. The mother filed a statement at the same time, providing a different explanation for the child’s injuries and implicating the father.
Lord
