Butler-Sloss lays down foundations for greater separate child representation.FAMILY LAW: courts must encourage independent representation for children when appropriate.Children will find it easier to obtain separate representation in family proceedings following a decision by the Court of Appeal last week.Giving the leading judgment, Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, President of the Family Division, said that as a result of the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law, she expected to see an increase in the number of cases where children had their own lawyers.

She said she would welcome this step under art.6, the right to access to a court and to a fair hearing.The case arose when Thea Henley, the National Youth Advocacy Service's director of legal services, was refused appointment as a guardian ad litem for a four-year-old girl.Dame Elizabeth found that a failure to investigate the circumstances of the case properly at county court level did justify the child being represented.Ms Henley said the ruling marked a huge step forward for children.

'It is now quite clear that independent representation for children is not to be avoided by courts, but encouraged where appropriate'.Pat Monro, chairman of the Law Society's child law sub-committee, said she welcomed the judge's remarks, which were 'enlightened'.

Some lawyers and judges think that children should not be part of the wrangle, she said, while others feel that while it is not necessary in all cases, there are quite a number where children should be represented.The Law Society, Solicitors Family Law Association and others recently prepared a paper proposing a presumption in favour of separate representation for children in a number of cases, including: all children over 12; where termination of contact is an issue; where parents are implacably hostile; where there are concerns about the child's welfare; and in unusually complex or difficult cases, for example, where there is a foreign element.Sue Allen