Edinburgh Family Law Congress 8-9 February 2002
David Truex
Family
Law April 2002
In February the Scottish Family Law
Association invited their colleagues from England and Wales, Eire
and Northern Ireland to Edinburgh for the annual Family Law Congress.
The meeting followed a tradition established
some years ago by family lawyers from Liverpool and Dublin, led from
the English side by David Harris QC and Maureen Roddy (now HHJs Harris
and Roddy), with family lawyers traversing the Irish sea in alternate
years to participate in each other’s family law conferences. In November
1999 the moveable feast was celebrated in Belfast for the first time
and three Scottish family lawyers attended. When the meeting was convened
in Dublin in January 2001 the number of Scots attending more than
doubled and their enthusiasm was such that they agreed to host the
2002 event.
Over 250 family lawyers from the four
jurisdictions of the British Isles were treated to a Congress where
the ambience could best be described as Scottish international. On
Friday evening, after a tour of Parliament House, we were piped into
a welcome reception at Edinburgh Castle, hosted by the Minister for
Justice, the Rt Hon Jim Wallace. Delegates were permitted to roam
freely through the museum which houses the Scottish crown jewels and,
a recent acquisition, the Stone of Destiny (tactlessly identified
by one Sassenach, who shall remain nameless, as the Stone of Scone!).
Saturday’s working sessions comprised
two panel discussions with contributors from all four jurisdictions.
The first session was on Brussels II and comparative financial provision
on divorce, the second covered child protection procedures. Panels
were chaired, respectively, by Lord Bonomy, Senator of the College
of Justice in Scotland, and the Hon Mrs Justice Black of the Family
Division of the High Court of Justice in England and Wales. In a third
working session, chaired by the Hon Justice Catherine McGuinness of
the Supreme Court of Ireland, Ruth Deech, chair of the Human Fertilization
and Embryology Authority, spoke on Reproductive Technology, Family
and Human Rights.
In the short space available in this
note it is impossible to do justice to all of the speakers and chairs,
every one of whom made an excellent contribution. For me the most
fascinating aspect of a day which was full of surprises was the way
in which lawyers from the four jurisdictions approached problems with
such marked differences of expectation. Lord Justice Thorpe, who attended
as a guest, hit the nail on the head when he commented that the Scottish
law of financial provision following divorce is very different from
that in England and Wales because, well, things are simply different
in Scotland. His Lordship put this much more elegantly but I did not
take a verbatim note. Dick Podell from Wisconsin, a former chair of
the ABA Family Law Section, pointed out that things were even more
complicated in the 54 different matrimonial jurisdictions within the
USA and its territories.
In discussions afterwards it became
clear that Scottish family lawyers really do think it is sensible
for there to be a presumption of equal division of matrimoinal property
acquired during the marriage and that spousal maintenance after divorce
should not easily be granted. By contrast, every Irish lawyer I spoke
with strongly endorsed their principle that maintenance for the ex-wife
should be for life or until remarriage. Both camps argued their cases
with conviction and eloquence but there was no meeting of minds. How
does one say vive la difference in Gaelic?
Five members of the SLFA International
Committee crossed the border to attend the Congress and threw themselves
into the proceedings with enthusiasm. Carolynn Usher and Andrea Woelke
asked passably intelligent questions from the floor, David Hodson
got into a couple of intricate debates on Brussels II and Tina Dunn
must have spoken with just about every one of the 250 or so delegates.
I took the opportunity to call a meeting
of the chairs of the family lawyer representative groups from our
neighbour jurisdictions. We agreed to establish more regular and formal
links with each other to promote mutual understanding and, potentially,
to cooperate on issues of common interest such as law reform, legal
aid and coping with the Europeanisation of family law.
Next year’s meeting will take place
in Liverpool. Our Merseyside hosts will be hard pressed to match the
combination of education and hospitality to which we were treated
in Edinburgh but I understand the organisers are already working to
ensure a memorable event. All family lawyers with an interest in what
is happening beyond the confines of their own jurisdictions would
be well advised to book early.
back to News
and Media
