The judiciary has appointed judge Fayyaz Afzal CBE to be the new designated family court judge for South Yorkshire. Designated Family Judges are responsible for the administration of Family justice at each major court centre.

Afzal is one of the first registered blind family court judges in Britain, and is the recipient of an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) and a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire). He focused primarily on family law as a barrister while working at No 5 Chambers, and has been a legal advisor to several health regulators.

Afzal has also served at the Bar Council Young Barristers, Equality/Diversity and Professional Practice Committees.

He replaces Judge Jessica Pemberton.

Judge Afzal will start his new role on 15 April, 2024.  

A list of the current designated family court judges can be accessed here.

Side note: It’s interesting to see that the majority of designated judges are women (26 out of 45). Bearing in mind this is an administrative role, we are not sure whether this is a positive development or a sign of patriarchal bias inside a system which still suffers with misogyny. For context, only 37% of court judges in Britain are female.