Like his predecessor Sir Mark Potter, Lord Justice Wall is not afraid to tell it like it is when it comes to problems in the family justice system.He is more than aware of what is happening in family legal aid, and took the step of writing to Legal Services Commission chief executive Carolyn Downs in August, warning her that family judges were alarmed by the effect of the tender outcome on ‘well-respected practitioners’.

At a speech to Families Need Fathers in Coventry last week, Wall gave further insight into the esteem in which he holds solicitors and other professionals working in family justice. He said: ‘The best thing about the family justice system, in my view, is the people who work in it. Most of them, in my experience, are decent, honest and hardworking.

‘They are not in it for the money, but do the work because they believe in it. This may not be a view you share. You may tell me that your experience is different. But it is always a mistake, I think, automatically to attack the good faith of the professionals with whom you deal.’

That kind of praise from the head of family justice is a boost to all professionals working in the system. But sadly it will not be enough to protect it from yet more savage cuts ahead.

And it seems Wall knows this as well as anyone else. As he said last week: ‘The impression I have gained so far is that the government is likely to invest heavily in the outcome of the Family Justice Review currently under way.

‘Be under no illusions. The recommendations are likely to be radical. There are no sacred cows.

‘I have no idea what the final recommendations will be, but you do not need a crystal ball to see that legal aid for private law proceedings is likely to be further diminished if not abolished; that long and protracted contact and residence disputes will become things of the past; and that out-of-court mediation and conciliation will be encouraged.’

Family lawyers, brace yourselves.

  • For more News blogs go to http://lawgazette.co.uk/blogs/news