The family court are currently undertaking a review of the list of lawyers on the lawyer for child list. If you are this list you will receive a letter and application from a Family Court Co-Ordinator (FCC) enquiring as to whether or not you with to stay on the list. If you do wish to remain on the list, you will need to complete and return the application to the FCC so your application can be considered. A copy of the application can be found here.

For those lawyers who do reapply to be on the list, there will be an interview with the panel undertaking the review.

The process for the review of the lawyer for child list has been split into two; one group will be reviewed by a South Auckland panel and the other group by an Auckland panel. The South Auckland panel hopes to meet before Christmas, if there is sufficient time. The Auckland panel will convene in the first quarter of next year.

The identity of those on each panel has not yet been finalised but must include an FCC, Family Court Judge, Family Law Section representatives and a psychologist.

Due to the large number of lawyers currently on the list, and the time it is expected to interview everyone, the process may end up being spread over an extended period. We expect to hear more about this in due course

If practitioners have any queries about the process, please email these to Louise Reed (email louise@louisereed.co.nz) (who is a member of the ADLS Family Law committee) to raise with the Auckland Family Court liaison judge.