Today marks the introduction of No-fault divorce. In this episode, Kate was joined by Clive Coleman to discuss the change in law, the media narrative around it and future reform in the divorce space.
As the BBC’s Legal Correspondent between 2010 and 2020, Clive was the face and voice of legal coverage and analysis across the BBC news output on radio, television and the website. Drawing on his years as a practicing barrister, he covered a vast range of domestic and international legal stories and issues including 2019’s momentous Supreme Court prorogation case, Brexit, the growing courts' backlog, the Barclay brothers ‘Ritz’ dispute, GDPR, the VW emissions scandal, phone hacking, Sir Cliff Richard v BBC, and the Hillsborough tragedy inquests.
Prior to becoming BBC Legal Correspondent, Clive was for six years the presenter of Radio 4’s flagship legal analysis programme ‘Law In Action’, and presented a raft of BBC programmes including Panorama ‘The Death of Kiss and Tell’, on the rise of privacy protection under the Human Rights Act. He has also been a columnist on ‘The Times’ and written for ‘The Guardian’ and ‘The Independent’. His time in journalism has given him a comprehensive knowledge of the media landscape, and a privileged insight into the justice system, the legal profession and civil and criminal law. Clive has an in-depth knowledge of how news stories work, are managed and affect the lives and reputations of those involved. His litigation training and experience in practice has given him a particular insight into news stories involving those going to law or seeking to avoid legal action, and the role of the lawyers advising and representing them.
Clive is also an acclaimed writer for theatre, television and film. His credits include, the play ‘Young Marx’ which opened Sir Nicholas Hytner’s Bridge Theatre in 2017, ‘Chambers’, his BBC sit-com starring John Bird and Sarah Lancashire, and the film ‘The Duke’ starring Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent, released in February 2022.
Clive has also been through his own divorce, which he talks about in this episode. Kate and Clive also look at how the media has previously covered divorce, its responsibility in sparking change, as well as future reform. Clive responds to criticism around No-fault divorce from religious groups and where to go to find information about No-fault divorce.