I didn’t think I’d be successful in this FOI - I asked on 22 May how much public money it cost Haringey council to fight to keep its identity secret in a care case where it was very severely criticised by the judge for its children’s social work practise...

I e just got the answer... one barrister was paid £4,200 for advice/drafting/represention over hearings - the first in which he argued Haringey’s case, initially successfully: the second was the hearing at which @BrianfaFarmer and I successfully challenged...

And got the original order to redact Haringey’s name overturned. The council thought it was also worth instructing another media specialist barrister to work on a rebuttal document of our argument over a weekend - that was another £2k of taxpayers money down the drain.

So a council paid £6,200 to try to keep its name out of the public domain after severe judicial criticism - although salaried Brian did this substantially in his own time, I wasn’t paid for what was easily two days work, and showed that the public interest demanded publication...

..of state failure that had disastrously affected two young children, and was of immense importance to other disabled children and their parents in that borough. The lesson of this? Please pay for the journalism you read, as the determination to do these investigations...

... is often done by reporters going way above and beyond. Another lesson - there has to be a far greater cultural acceptance of transparency by local authorities involved in family court proceedings, and this squandering of public money to save reputations has to stop.

Should add, the costs for all advice and representation by counsel in this case (over 9 months) was £21,665. I say this without any comment as to what lawyers earn - those I know work extremely hard and long hours that would do me in - but to show the costs of ONE care case.

This was the case: https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWHC/Fam/2020/1162.html&query=(ZW19C00360)

This is my blog on how the hearing in front of Hayden played out: https://openfamilycourt.wordpress.com/2020/05/20/freedom-of-expression-doesnt-just-arrive-on-a-bleedin-plate/

Here is the Hayden judgment saying we could name https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWHC/Fam/2020/1282.html&query=(hayden)