Child Law Conference 2025

10th March 2025

Image: Corbett Le Quesne Child Law Conference

Our annual Child Law Conference is taking place on Friday 14 March 2025 at the Radisson Blu in St Helier.  As always, this event has been very popular and we are delighted to be welcoming so many people to Jersey for this event.

The theme this year is Addiction and talks will cover both private and public law. The programme will include sessions by judges, lawyers, psychologists and testing organisations who will speak on diverse topics within the overall theme, with a particular emphasis on the use of FDACs. We are very pleased that Lord Justice Peter Jackson will be our keynote speaker and the event will be chaired by Hannah Markham KC.

On Friday the 14^th of March some members of the Jersey Family Justice Council (JFJC) will be meeting with Lord Justice Peter Jackson to discuss his experience of the specialist courts in the UK. The Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae, a founding member of the Council in 2024 will be in attendance with Caroline Wright, Royal Court Commissioner and UK Judge and Jersey family judge Samantha McFadzean.

Lord Justice Jackson was invited to Jersey by Advocate Corbett to be key note speaker at Corbett Le Quesne’s Jersey International Child Law Conference.

Advocate Corbett said “Millions could be saved directly and indirectly, as well as countless other social benefits were Jersey to follow the UK in establishing a Family Drug and Alcohol Court. We want to make the most of the opportunity of having such a senior and experienced judge visiting the island to forge forward with an initiative that will hugely benefit the island. There is a cost in setting up a new court but it would quickly pay dividends because the cost of these drug and alcohol related cases is huge. The current system is extremely costly, not only in terms of the money involved in legal fees and paying for children to be in care but the emotional impact of separating parents can be devastating. The proposal is that specialist assistance would be provided in these cases. Children can therefore often remain living with their parents and expensive contested hearings are often avoided because the parties are working together throughout the process.”

In 2012 District Judge Nick Crighton, the original  attended one of Corbett Le Quesne’s family conferences and he spoke then of the huge advantages of specialist family drug and alcohol courts.  The Guardian’s obituary said of him “Nick Crichton, who has died of cancer aged 75, was one of the most influential family judges of his generation and the pioneer of the specialist family drug and alcohol courts (FDACs) that have transformed the chances of keeping together families where one or both parents have addiction issues. The innovation has demonstrated the potential for the judicial system to play a wider role in problem-solving.”

Corbett Le Quesne’s conference focusing on addiction is taking place on Friday the 14^th of March at the Radisson Hotel Jersey.

Media Will Jersey see a Family Drug and Alcohol Court? - Channel Eye