He has for a long time amongst his peers, cut a somewhat lonely figure in the debate surrounding increased transparency in the family courts, but as President of the Family Division, Sir James Munby is in arguably the most powerful position to make a meaningful impact. And as a very vocal and politically active member of the family justice system (and when we say political, we mean politics in its rightful place – open discussion about the performance of the family courts, and nothing else), Sir Munby continues to make waves.

The latest news tells us that our President has, post a case which he presided over where a council was trying to ban a father from publishing highly critical material about it social services department, re-iterated his view that more transparency is needed in the family courts to ensure a proper debate on the performance of bodies inside the system.

For this, and his continued efforts at creating the perfect balance between freedom of expression and child welfare concerns, we make Sir Justice Munby our judge of the week.

You’ve got guts, sir, and at Researching Reform, that’s applauded.