Attorney Calls Out Judge for "Boys Club" Ruling: Now She's Facing Suspension
Shows How Old Boys Rule Family Court
An attorney representing a mother in a Family Court case has the audacity to call the judge out for his “boys club” ruling switching custody to the abusive father.
Now the Old Boys are coming after her.
Charlotte Proudman is facing suspension of her license to practice law and, meanwhile, the Boys have been trolling her despicably on social media with misogynistic slurs.
The funny part? The judge is actually a member of a literal Boys Only club! And this club happens to boast as members most of the male judges and powerful Old Boys in the UK.
This makes explicit what is only implicit in other countries where this kind of Men’s Only club is not permitted: the Old Boy Network [OBN] controls Family Court. This explains why judges routinely switch custody to abusive, controlling, and violent men. This is why there is a Post-Separation Crisis.
So the Old Boys are finally, predictably, coming after Charlotte. The only question is, what took them so long?
Most attorneys who truly fight for mothers don’t last long—they either get with the program or change specialties. Women’s Coalition News & Views has documented this going back to the 1980’s. The attorney graveyard is littered with ones who were ethical and moral—and foolish enough to piss off the Old Boys by zealously advocating for mothers.
A MOTHERS’ ATTORNEY
Charlotte is perhaps the most well-known attorney in the UK for representing mothers in custody cases. Seeing up front and center how mothers are systematically discriminated against and oppressed has caused her to be a long-time critic of the Family Court system.
She prevailed in a case we covered earlier. It was a rare, clean victory for a mother, likely because she had power as an MP (congressperson) and her husband had been convicted of raping her, an unusual piece of evidence in a custody case.
This MP, Kate Griffiths, went on to win the right to speak publicly about her case, which is highly unusual in the UK. She’s used it to raise awareness about the difficulty of mothers protecting their children post-separation: MP Mum Wins Right to Speak Publicly about Horrific Case.
The last straw for the Old Boys with Charlotte (or perhaps the opportunity they were waiting for?) was when she had the temerity to post a 14-tweet thread about a case she had just lost. In it she referred to Judge Jonathan Cohen’s ruling, which gave the abusive father custody, as having “echoes of the boys’ club”.
I lost the case. I do not accept the judge’s reasoning. This judgment has echoes of the “boys’ club” which still exists among men in powerful positions.
That was two years ago. It is unclear which case this is regarding, as the UK did not permit reporting on custody cases. However, since then, a reform allows some limited reporting.
Soon after she tweeted this thread, the Bar, also infested with Old Boys, initiated disciplinary proceedings with 5 charges against her. She is accused of tweeting misleading information that “inaccurately reflected the findings of the judge” and using language that was “seriously offensive and derogatory, designed to demean and/or insult the judge”. Another charge states that she had “behaved in a way which was likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in her and in the profession” by tweeting posts that were insulting to the judge.
Charlotte denies all five charges. She claims the disciplinary proceedings infringe on her right to freedom of speech. Further, she asserts that the tweets “were neither misleading nor were they inaccurate” and the language used was “neither seriously offensive nor derogatory”.
She also says:
The use of the term ‘boys’ club’ is well known within a legal context. The background to this is that the vast majority of KC’s [powerful attorneys] and members of the judiciary at high court, court of appeal and supreme court level are cis, white, able-bodied men from a similar demographic background that includes public school and Oxbridge educated. As such, the term has become a shorthand to exemplify both conscious and unconscious male bias.
Notice Charlotte uses the term “conscious bias”. In clearer terms, judges know damn well they are discriminating against and oppressing women with their findings and orders switching custody to abusive and otherwise undeserving fathers. In fact, that is the agenda.
Not surprisingly, another Old Boy was assigned to hear Charlotte’s disciplinary proceeding: Judge Philip Havers. Amusingly, he is a member of the same, literal Old Boys club! Charlotte requested his recusal and he recently agreed, perhaps because of the publicity her case is getting.
Some poetic justice: this Old Boys club that all these judges and lawyers belong to is now under public attack for being discriminatory and is being pressured to admit women.
MISOGYNISTIC SLURS
The Old Boys did not stop with just attacking Charlotte professionally. No, they went after her personal reputation as well. Their intimidation extended to misogynistic slurs on social media.
Charlotte was verbally abused in tweets posted by a ton of lawyers. They’ve branded her a cunt, whore, narcissist, dreadful, and an idiot. Charlotte has reported more than 50 lawyers for this abuse and asked the Bar to take action. She says this onslaught has seriously affected her well-being. She is now fearful and has to work with colleagues who’ve been allowed to verbally attack her.
But the Bar minimized the Boys’ attacks on her as just “unpleasant and inflammatory”. They refuse to take action because the messages supposedly do not meet the threshold for regulatory action.
Note that the UK Old Boys are acting just like perpetrator fathers in Family Court, using the DARVO tactic: Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim Offender. They deny they have anything to do with the ruling, they attack Charlotte in various ways, and they claim the judiciary is the victim and Charlotte is the offender.
THE SILENCING OF GOOD ATTORNEYS
Charlotte recognizes the brutal attacks on her are an attempt to intimidate her into silence. They are trying to discourage her from continuing to zealously represent women and speak out about how Family Court is failing mothers. This serves, by extension, to disempower mothers.
There is a long history of Old Boys retaliating against attorneys who represent mothers well. In the 1980’s Garnett Harrison was targeted for destruction for having dared to zealously represent Dorrie and Karen (as told in our History of the Crisis series). She was not only facing the loss of her license, but the Old Boys had threatened to imprison her. It got so bad she fled across country to practice in another state.
Since then there have been countless attorneys who’ve been retaliated against. The Old Boys have done to them what they are doing to Charlotte: making an example of them to other attorneys: dare to fight for mothers and look what will happen to you. This is why attorneys rarely represent mothers properly, much less zealously, with many selling them out covertly, knowing they will be rewarded.
It’s really quite simple. The Old Boys use carrots and sticks to keep attorneys toeing the line. Attorneys who go along to get along get carrots. Those who don’t get sticks. Charlotte is getting sticks because she has continued to represent mothers properly and speak out when there is injustice, as in the subject case.
The Old Boys thus put attorneys in an untenable position: give up their morals or their career. They are being put in the same no-win situation as mothers who must choose between staying with an abusive husband or lose custody to him. The ones who continue to practice in family courts are compromised.
Both attorneys and mothers are being punished for the same reason: the age-old Old Boy agenda to keep men empowered in their family after separation. This takes precedence over every other Old Boy concern. It is the perpetuation of the foundational patriarchal imperative: “Rule of the Father”.
WHAT’S NEXT
Charlotte has garnered support from some high-profile advocates: MP Apsana Begum and women’s rights activists Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu and Dr Helen Pankhurst. They are asking for her case to be dismissed.
It is unclear whether a new judge has been assigned to Charlotte’s case after Judge Haver’s recusal. Perhaps her case will be dismissed and a new judge will not be necessary.
Hopefully Charlotte will not will not be intimidated by the Old Boy Network. Hopefully she will continue to represent mothers zealously and call out the injustices against women in Family Court.
We will keep you posted.
IN OTHER NEWS
SISTERS IN SOLIDARITY
We had a great SIS forum yesterday. Thanks to all our Sisters who participated.
See everyone next month for more discussion about how to end the Post-Separation Crisis.
If you’d like to join SIS, please read this column and fill out the linked form. You will receive an invitation to the zoom a few days before.
CHAPTER 13 PUBLISHED THIS WEEK!
“Finishing School for Fathers” is Chapter 13 of Dr. Blue’s book: Mother-Fucking: The Saga of One Fucked Mother.
In Chapter 13, Legion bemoans how women are the majority yet men have ruled and made decisions that cause so much harm, individually and societally. She fantasizes about men being required to attend a “finishing school” before marriage—a program to prepare and qualify them for being good husbands and fathers. In retrospect, she sees Herry wanted only to be a despot, which patriarchal society enabled.
Legion ruminates on how history disappears women’s contributions; how male domination and wars have caused so much violence; how men have not ever really listened to women; and how even famous civil rights leaders and progressives have not promoted women’s everyday rights and needs.
Chapters are stand-alone interesting so you can begin reading anywhere. A Cast of Characters follows to help readers at any point. All published chapters are included in the Women’s Coalition News & Views Section: “The Saga of One F**ked Mother”—accessible on the top bar of our home page. Sequential chapters are published every Wednesday. Of course, subscribers will find each new chapter in their inboxes, so make sure to subscribe if you haven’t yet!
You may also give a gift subscription to a mother who is going through her own Family Court nightmare and doesn’t understand why.
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All contributions, large and small, are greatly appreciated!
The good old boys'club will do anything to keep men empowered in their family after separation. Women and children will have no protection. Family court judges will have no consequences. Women and children will continue to suffer as long as family court judges are in power. Women must continue to fight for a new system.