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In early January, just as most people were returning to work after the holidays, a gratifying number of family lawyers logged on to X (formerly Twitter) to join in #FamilyLawHour on the topic of the digitisation of family proceedings and access to justice.

This family law community event is organised by and takes place on the first Tuesday of each month, with a different topic and host each time. The #FamilyLawHour team kindly invited me to host this month’s event and I chose digitisation as an area that is fast changing the landscape of family law. Having drafted some questions in advance and prepared polls to gather views on key areas, it was great to see both the level of interest in this area and also a general consensus as to both the advantages and disadvantages of digitisation. 

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Does online access improve access to justice and increase dispute resolution (DR) outside of court?

Generally, there was a positive response to the question of whether online access can improve access to justice and the take-up of non-court DR, but with some reservations as to general accessibility, for example:

Alan Larkin @larkinslaw: "100% yes. Legal tech can scale in a way that human resources simply can’t match. This is crucial for access to justice."

Yaa Dankwa Ampadu-Sackey @ydankwa: "Online access could improve access to justice but it depends on the extent of the resource. For example will these be available in other languages other than English? To what extent will these be modified for the visually impaired etc."

David Hodson @DMHodson: "Online justice is in reality the only justice in the near future. It can provide so much more info and linked resources coupled with interactive forms. There will be soon no cf with the pre digital form of only a few years ago. But the challenges are immense"

Do family law matters work in an online environment?

On the question of whether family law issues are well-suited to online access and information, replies included:

Alan Larkin @larkinslaw:"Absolutely. Online services (if well designed - big caveat) can provide a soft landing before human services kick in and do some of the heavy lifting. Tailored interactivity is required - Information alone won't cut the mustard."

Yaa Dankwa Ampadu-Sackey @ydankwa: "Yes (short answer).  The content has to be well designed to suit majority of the population accessing these (structure and form). The information must be current and this must be in sync with prompt updates following decided cases."

Hannah Gumbrill-Ward @HannahGW_FLP: "Yes and there is a huge amount of fantastic information already available. But the issue is how we get people to take on that information rather than listening to a ‘friend of a friend’?"

But also that:

Gary Crawley @LDN_Divorce_Law: "Government departments have a very poor record when it comes to purchasing IT that actually meets the contracted criteria. HMCTS is no exception. The FPL Portal is atrocious. Thus although in theory a citizen’s portal is a good idea in practice it is likely to be dire."

What other resources should the proposed central ‘citizen’s portal’ highlight in family proceedings?

The third question addressed what resources parties and potential parties to family proceedings should be signposted to via the proposed central ‘citizen’s portal’, with replies addressing a range of information:

Patricia Beckett @PLBeckett7: "Mediation. Family solicitors. Co-parenting resources."

Gemma Hope (She/Her) @gemlegal: "Tailored&interactive resources are key,otherwise the info is too overwhelming.Families come in all shapes,one size approach may not fit.Resources to access legal advice,financial advice&emotional support are needed+info on how to sort things out (ie non court DR) #familylawhour"

Karen Barham @KarenBarhamW12: "Funding information & accessibility - how to access & fund support, whether 1) legal 2) mediation 3"

What are the risks when the majority of access is online?

The final question considered concerns about safeguarding, ‘digital deserts’ and the accessibility of information by people with family law issues if the majority of access is online:

Ursula Rice @tweetygraffity: "There’s an obvious statistical cut off for people over  60. And no phone no access. Economic abuse can cut you off."

Patricia Beckett @PLBeckett7: "Yes. The dangers of a one-size fits all system. We already have legal aid deserts in this country, due to woeful underfunding for 20+ years. In those areas the lack of advice may lead to greater numbers using the court system. Those without online access will suffer."

The polls produced interesting and, in some cases, surprising results, but there was a consenus on pre-proceedings information currently shared:

Given the rapid move to digitisation, the results for the poll on contact with HMCTS were more surprising:

Contact with the court and technical issues may play a part in that, as considered in the third poll:

Finally, the crucial question of whether a new citizens portal would reduce the need for specialist legal advice was fairly conclusive: 

with the comment that:

Karen Barham @KarenBarhamW12: " Generic information may be helpful but rather like a medical opinion, people require individual & personal advice. At the end of the day I believe #PeopleNeedPeople"

Many thanks to Laura Ward and Kate Rivera of for running the #FamilyLawHour account and for asking me to host – the discussion was both positive and informative and a great opportunity for the family law community to come together. 

Geraldine Morris is a solicitor and head of Family Practical Guidance at ½Û×ÓÊÓƵ UK.

View family law practice notes, precedents and news articles