Professor Gillian Douglas FBA, FAcSS

The 2022 Baroness Butler-Sloss Annual Family Law Lecture delivered online by Professor Gillian Douglas

The 2022 GW4 FRS Network and Exeter Law School Baroness Butler-Sloss Annual Family Law Lecture took place on the 9th March. It was delivered online by Professor Gillian Douglas FBA, FAcSS on the intriguing and important topic Achieving Family Law Reform: Evolution vs. Revolution. 

Professor Douglas posed the question of why is it that some family law reform in England and Wales, such as securing better rights for separating cohabitants, seems to be so difficult to bring about, while other apparently much more revolutionary change, for example, the introduction of same sex marriage, appears to have been achieved comparatively easily. By using some key examples of efforts to secure reform during the past 50 years, her lecture explored what we mean by ‘family law reform’ and considered the conditions that appear necessary for it to occur and the criteria by which we can evaluate its success.

A recording of the lecture can be viewed here.

Date: 9 March 2021