Judges sitting at at the Central Family Court will resume wearing robes during proceedings to test whether more formality is needed in family courts. The change in dress follows ‘concern about incidents of violent and threatening behaviour experienced by judges and court users’, HM judiciary said today.

Judges will now wear robes ,but not wigs, and practitioners will not be expected to wear robes.

The pilot, approved by president of the Family Division Sir Andrew McFarlane, will run for three months starting this week.

Central Family Court, First Avenue House

Judges sitting at Central Family Court will resume wearing robes during proceedings

Source: Michael Cross

A survey will be conducted during and after the pilot ‘to assess if robing makes a different to family court proceedings’. The survey will focus on the number of behavioural incidents experienced by judges as well as their perceptions of their own authority and safety. 

In December 2023, a judge was assaulted by a litigant in person during a private family hearing. At the time, HM Courts & Tribunals Service described the incident as ‘shocking’ but ‘extremely rare’.

Judges in civil and family cases in England and Wales stopped wearing wigs in 2008.

The pilot follows an announcement that face-to-face mental health tribunal hearings will be suspended in some mental health hospitals if the premises do not comply with minimum safety and security requirements.

 

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