England: Family judges urged to challenge lawyers emailing outside acceptable hours
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Sir Andrew McFarlane
Judges should challenge family lawyers who send emails outside acceptable hours, the president of the family courts in England and Wales has said.
In an update on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the family courts, Sir Andrew McFarlane said court hearings and emails taking place “without any regard to the confines of a normal working day has become a matter of very significant concern”.
The senior judge said the “pressure of work in the courts and the backlog of cases … will not be resolved by individuals working beyond reasonable capacity, but by increased resources and strategic, system-wide changes in the way cases are dealt with”.
He reaffirmed the importance of hearings taking place between 10am and 4.30pm in the context of reports that hearings are increasingly taking place as early as 8am.
Sir Andrew urged district judges to “reinforce the need to adhere” to existing well-being protocols, which include expectations of when it is, and is not, acceptable to send/receive emails or to expect a response.
“Judges should question professionals who are seen to have been sending messages at times outside acceptable hours,” he wrote.
“There should be no expectation that email traffic will be read and responded to in the evening, overnight or at weekends.”
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