Further evidence submitted by District
Judge (Magistrates Courts) Nicholas Crichton
1. Please note that I speak from the standpoint
of family proceedings courts only. I have sat solely in family
proceedings for the past 10 or 11 years, and I believe that I
am still the only District Judge (Magistrates Courts) to do so.
2. I believe that issues of delay and the
ability to get on with work efficiently without undue haste are
closely connected to the commitment to prepare properly and to
gain the confidence which comes from experience. In his oral evidence
given on 9 November, Wall LJ said that "pro-active judicial
management is absolutely crucial". I agree. A family judge
must prepare in advance. He must have the confidence and experience
to identify the issues. He must have the confidence to be proactive
and to get everybody in the courtroom to focus on those issues.
Only an experienced judge will say "I do not need an expert
in this case". It is hard for an inexperienced judge to refuse
an application for an expert.
3. I am certain of the need for greater
judicial specialism. The skills required for sitting in family
law are very different from those required in other branches of
the law. There has been a steady move away from the adversarial
approach, except in the most contentious cases. I believe that
we need more judges sitting full-time, or at least for the greater
part of the time, in family work. We need judges who are committed
to family law and willing to undertake the considerable amount
of preparation that is required, and who have a clear understanding
of the needs of the children and families whom the courts seek
to help. We would then be able to offer significantly greater
judicial continuity which in turn would lead to a more efficient
service and swifter conclusion.
4. At the present time in my court we have
about 18 DJMCs who hold family tickets and who come to the court
for some five to eight weeks per year for one or two weeks at
a time. However hard they try I do not believe that this is sufficient
to enable them to become confident in providing pro-active judicial
case management. I believe that the situation outside London is
much the same. Indeed, I believe that there are District Judges
who hold family law tickets who cannot get very much work. The
pressure of work at Wells Street is such that I would very much
welcome another full-time resident family law DJMC.
5. The bench of DJMCs are all appointed
from the ranks of criminal practitioners. I am confident in saying
that no DJMC at present in post would want to sit full-time in
family. However, I am also confident that there are many family
law practitioners, both solicitors and barristers, who would wish
to apply to sit full-time in the family proceedings court. I believe
that we should be developing a job specification and advertising
specifically for deputies to sit in the family proceedings court,
without requiring them to sit in crime.
6. I appreciate that there may be an argument
that if we follow these thoughts through to their conclusion we
will be denying DJMCs who sit in crime the opportunity of having
the wider experience of sitting in family law. I understand the
point. I am more concerned to improve and develop the service
for disadvantaged children and their families, but see no reason
why the system cannot be sufficiently flexible to allow DJMCs
who want to do the work to continue to do so.
7. It follows from the above that I agree
with the view expressed by Munby J that there are not enough family
law judges. Whenever these issues are discussed with practitioners
there is always agreement on one issue—we need more courts
and more specialist judges. Two months represents 1% of a child's
childhood. We must be available to hear cases and make decisions
crucial to children's lives as close as possible to the optimum
date, ie when all the information has been gathered and the case
is ready to be heard. There are enough delays in waiting for assessments
to be completed and reports prepared. The courts should not be
adding to the delays because there are insufficient courts and
judges available to hear cases when they are ready to be heard.
Further delay is failing and sometimes harming the child. It also
adds to the public expense in terms of longer time spent in foster
care. It bears repeating that more full time experienced judges
will mean greater judicial continuity and will lead to cases being
decided more quickly.
8. Please see Munby J at p 32 of the transcript,
and my own comments at p 59. There is a growing need for fact
finding hearings, to decide whether or not allegations of domestic
violence are true, the extent of the violence and its relevance
to the issue of contact. These hearings often take as much as
one, two or three days and need to be resolved quickly. Lack of
judges and court time means that often they cannot be listed for
months, and children are left in limbo.
9. In my oral evidence I referred to the
value of legal advisers (formerly court clerks). As the Unified
Courts Administration approaches there are increasing rumours
that DJMCs may be required to sit without the benefit of legal
advisers. I understand the point. Lay magistrates require the
assistance of legal advisers, but DJMCs may not. However, legal
advisers are of enormous value in assisting family courts in many
ways. They have limited judicial powers which enable them to give
directions and to case-manage. They free up the judge's time so
that he can get on with hearing a case. They will have handled
earlier directions hearings and will have some knowledge of what
is going on in a case. They keep notes of evidence and note the
judge's directions as and when they are made. They draw up orders
with extreme efficiency. When I sit as a Recorder in county court
I have to make a conscious effort to slow down and can work at
only half the pace because I do not have that assistance. I believe
that if DJMCs were to be deprived of the assistance of legal advisers
they will be unable to work at the same speed, thereby increasing
delays yet further.
Nicholas Crichton
District Judge (Magistrates Court)
February 2005
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