Sir Andrew McFarlane never expected to become a barrister. He had no particular interest in family law until he took the case that changed his life. His rapid promotion from the High Court to the Court of Appeal came as a surprise. The post of president of the family division was not one he aspired to. And he certainly did not expect to serve as the senior family judge of England and Wales for as long as eight years.
All this he tells me without any sense of humblebragging or false modesty. But there is one achievement that he looks back on with pride. It was a major reform that is bound to feature in the tributes he’ll receive at a valedictory ceremony later today. But I suspect it went unnoticed by most court users at the time.
Better known is his support for pathfinder courts, as they were described for want of a better term. Earlier this month, the justice secretary announced that child-focused courts, as they are now to be called, will be introduced across England and Wales once the necessary funding can be found. In the latest episode of A Lawyer Talks, McFarlane explains how a simple innovation has led to a wholly different dynamic in the family courts.
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