Development of the Family Law Profession

The costs relating to the legal professionals who litigated the cases are particularly interesting because we know so little about the solicitors and barristers who worked in the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, or how the court operated in practice. Prior to the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, there was no formal family court and therefore no family law profession, but by the 1860s, firms specialising in divorce cases began to emerge.  

Using information of legal professionals contained in the J 77 Divorce Court case files, it is possible to identify firms and legal professionals who dealt with high-profile and high-cost cases, and those with links to provincial firms who represented clients from outside London. This information can then be used to chart the history of the family law profession from its inception following the demise of the Doctors’ Commons in 1857, through its development into a specialist area of family law. These findings will contribute important new knowledge to a small but growing body of work on the networks of legal professionals. Existing research has shown that provincial criminal solicitors had close working relationships with London-based chambers, but these relationships have not been charted for the firms servicing the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes. This will provide important new data about how the Divorce Court (which was meant to serve the entirety of England and Wales but sat in London) functioned. 

Crucially, this project will also offer the first comprehensive examination of women working in the family law courts following The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919, thus enabling women’s voices to be considered as part of the decision-making judicial system, as well as victims of its processes.  Drawing on feminist legal theory, the project will amplify female voices and experiences by consciously reflecting on the harms caused to women who had to navigate entrenched patriarchal structures. The importance of this can be seen if we stop to consider that for nearly 70 years, a wife seeking a divorce would be advised by male solicitors, represented by male barristers, potentially examined by male doctors, have her case decided by a male judge, and likely be described in the press by male reporters. This is an important new intervention as many legal scholars, even in the 21st century, still do not recognise the significance of women’s voices being silenced.