By Celia Kitzinger, “Anna”, Daniel Clark, Gill-Loomes Quinn, and Claire Martin, 15 June 2024
Four years ago today, on 15th June 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Celia Kitzinger (retired academic psychologist) and Gill Loomes-Quinn (disability scholar-activist) launched the Open Justice Court of Protection Project.
It was born of our passionate belief that “publicity is the very soul of justice” at a time when it seemed that the public health emergency was closing down the opportunity for people to observe the court in action.
We had no funding and no clear plan about what we were going to do beyond observing a few hearings and writing some blog posts. The Project was the two of us, plus the website we set up in the hope that some other people might be interested.
It’s turned out to be wildly successful!
We now have a well-established and respected Project, with five core team members: joining Celia and Gill, “Anna” is someone with personal experience as a litigant in person in the COP for her mother; Daniel Clark is a former paid carer, now PhD student; and Claire Martin is an NHS consultant clinical psychologist working with older people. Last year we also appointed an Advisory group of three lawyers (see “Meet the Team”).
Over the last four years our website has attracted over 578,000 views from more than 299,000 unique visitors. Numbers are rising every year.
We’ve encouraged and supported thousands of people from a wide range of backgrounds to observe the court in action, and to share their experiences and their reflections via our blog and social media. Contributors include health and social care professionals, disabled people and their families, and those with experience of the Court of Protection as protected parties, litigants in person and expert witness.
We’ve published 489 blog posts in four years – that’s about one every three days! – and we have thriving social media outlets and run a WhatsApp group for court observers.
The Project has opened up public awareness of the Court of Protection as never before.
All this, still without any funding, and as a wholly voluntary organisation run in our spare time by members of the public.
We’ve been thrilled with the positive feedback we’ve received.
available on the National archives here: https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewcop/2022/44
(email from blogger, Hita Jadeja)
(from Twitter/X here: https://x.com/AspieDeLaZouch/status/1779485778361385047)
from Twitter/X here: https://x.com/langerslangers/status/1760990048638349339
(on Linked-In, here: https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=David%20glasgow%20careful%20methodical%20and%20respectful&origin=GLOBAL_SEARCH_HEADER&sid=WE%3A)
Recent remarks from the Chair of the Judiciary’s newly formed “Transparency and Open Justice Board” confirm that “open justice was never limited to journalists; every citizen is entitled to the same access to proceedings in open court”. Mr Justice Nicklin observes that “where journalists once sat in Courts, now sit a new breed of court reporters. Often representing or reflecting particular interests, they are providing welcome additional eyes and ears of the public in reporting what takes place in our Courts and Tribunals” (§41). We feel seen!
We have four years of experience as citizen-reporters in the Court of Protection. Our Project is in many ways a success story. We were always pushing at an open door – in theory if not always in practice, and we’ve significantly expanded transparency in the Court of Protection, once “Britain’s most secret court”.
Our Project is a showcase for what can be achieved by members of the public, seeking to work collaboratively with judges and lawyers in the Court of Protection, and with HMCTS staff, to overcome the barriers to open justice.
We want to thank everyone who’s supported us over the last year.
That includes all the judges, lawyers, and court staff, who’ve responded to our emails and phone calls, sent out links, dealt with audio and video problems, and addressed our concerns about listings. We recognise the time-commitment involved and very much value your obvious dedication to transparency and open justice.
We’re especially grateful to our advisory group members Kirsty Stuart, Victoria Butler-Cole KC, and Ian Brownhill who have helped us make sense of case law and statute – often at rather short notice – when we were struggling to understand cases, and concerned to report them accurately.
A special thank you to everyone who’s blogged for the Project over the course of the last 12 months (in alphabetical order)[I]: Deborah Airey, Pippa Arnold; Georgina Baidoun, Peter C Bell, Jordan Briggs, Nikki Bowsley, Ian Brownhill, Cliodhna Carroll, Beverley Clough, Chiara Cordone, Amy Dadarria, Kim Dodd, Brian Farmer, Claire Fuller, Ty Glover, Febienne Green, John Harper, Gail Heslop, Amanda Hill, “Hope”, Hita Jadeja, “Jean-Louise”, Ellen Lefley, Daisy Long, Tom McBride, George Palmer, Ruby Reed-Berendt, Nell Robson, “Rose”, Tess Saunders, Rhiannon Snaith, Hartej Singh Saund-Matharu, Tim Sugden, Eleanor Tallon, Jake Thorold, Isabella Treston, Avaia Williams, Ann Wilson, and Kei Yong.
Finally, we want to thank each other for being such fantastic and supportive colleagues and for making the experience of running this Project feel so rewarding.
We look forward to working together productively over the course of the next year.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL OF US!
[i] As a matter of policy, and in line with our overall commitment to transparency, we do not usually publish anonymous blog posts (or anonymous commentary on them). Sometimes, however, we are forced to do so – as when there is a Transparency Order in place prohibiting an author from identifying themself as a protected party or as family of a protected party (“Rose”, “Anna”, “Hope” and “Jean-Louise”). We also made the exceptional decision this year to publish an anonymous account from a Court of Protection barrister about their own experience of anorexia (“A tribute to E: How anorexia and ‘Re E’ made me a Court of Protection lawyer”). We very much regret that one of the members of our core team, “Anna” is compelled to remain anonymous due to a Transparency Order: her efforts to get it varied have so far not been successful (see: Gagged – in whose best interests?).
Promoting Open Justice in the Court of Protection 
By Janyce Quigley
I am an Independent Social Worker and Best Interests Assessor. With almost all of the work I now do, DoLS and COPDOLS, I have the potential to attend the Court of Protection. As a local authority Social Worker, I have appeared in the Court of Protection in relation to section 21a DoLS challenges, and community deprivation of liberty. I am also a Court of Protection General Visitor, a role with the Office of the Public Guardian.
I have been reading the Open Justice blogs almost since they started. I find them fascinating. My first CoP appearance, way back in 2014 or 2015, was a terrifying experience. In spite of having attended all the training, I felt completely unprepared for the experience. I talked to a colleague who had her first court appearance at about the same time as me, she felt the same, and we managed to get the council to arrange some additional training as a result. When I left local authority work, in 2023, my experience and confidence with the Court of Protection was a rarity, many of my colleagues were very fearful of taking things to court, and court training had slipped from the training program.
If the Open Justice blogs had been available when I started appearing in the Court of Protection, it would have been so helpful in providing the information I needed. The training I had received through my employer was provided by legal professionals rather than social workers. The court training we received didn’t cover court protocols, how to dress, what was expected in court, how to fill in the forms. Colleagues who had been to court had mostly been employed by childrens services and was related to care proceedings, a very different experience.
I have found that the Open Justice blogs have increased my legal literacy in relation to my own practice. I read several blogs a week. From reading them, I have become a more confident practitioner, and I speak to fellow professionals differently in relation to the legal implications of the work I/we carry out. I frequently advise that they seek legal advice due to the presenting risks, and can speak confidently when they may not have considered the legal risks, or the human rights aspects of what they do.
What I have learned from Open Justice at the Court of Protection is that the proceedings really are focused on P, and the Judge wants what is in P’s best interests. The problems come when there are delays in taking something to court, and a lack of cooperation.
When I returned to field social work, after 6 years on a DoLS team, I noted a lot of fear in my colleagues about needing to take things to court. I frequently referred colleagues to the Open Justice blogs, telling them that they will increase their legal literacy and competence from reading the blogs, and reduce their apprehension about the legal aspects of adult social care work.
I have also referred families and service users to the Open Justice blogs when it appears that a DoLS 21a challenge needs to go to court, explaining that some of the bloggers are family members of a P in a Court of Protection case. Families are also fearful of a day in court, and why a case needs to go to court is often poorly explained. What I have learned from the blogs helps me to reassure families and friends, and I also recommend they attend the free Edge training course for families about 21a DoLS challenges. It is an intimidating process for lay people and professionals alike.
I’m a social worker because I am interested in people. The blogs are well written, and I have found them to be interesting and engaging, and they make case law so much more accessible. Following a case through several hearings is fascinating, and I get a much better understanding of the case than from reading dry case summaries.
I haven’t blogged myself yet, but hope to do this in the very near future.
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