HHJ Louise McCabe
HHJ, Senior Circuit Judge and Designated Family Judge for the Midlands
Her Honour Judge Louise McCabe is a Senior Circuit Judge and Designated Family Judge for the Midlands, based at the Birmingham Civil and Family Justice Centre.
She was called to the Bar in 1996. In 2013, she was appointed as a Deputy District Judge, followed by appointment as a District Judge in 2018. In 2021, she was appointed as a Circuit Judge.
On 1 December 2025, Her Honour Judge McCabe was appointed by the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, the Right Honourable The Baroness Carr of Walton on the Hill, as a Senior Circuit Judge and Designated Family Judge for the Midlands. She continues to be known as Her Honour Judge McCabe.
Day 1 - Stephen Wildblood KC & HHJ Louise McCabe | Fireside Conversation
Beyond the Court Order: Why Families Need More Than Legal Decisions
Judicial Perspectives on Pressure, Delay and the Wellingborough Pilot
Who it will interest
Judiciary, mediators, family lawyers, CAFCASS professionals, policymakers, system leaders and court administrators
What this session is about
Court orders provide structure, but they rarely resolve the day-to-day conflict families continue to navigate for years after separation.
In this judicial fireside conversation Stephen Wildblood KC and Her Honour Judge McCabe explore the growing pressure on the family court system and why delay and volume are now structural rather than exceptional.
Stephen will open with a short data-led overview of current family justice demand and what this means for children and families in real time.
Judge McCabe will then bring the discussion into applied reform through the Wellingborough Family Court Mediation Pilot, exploring how court-linked mediation can operate alongside proceedings to support earlier resolution, de-escalation and safer parental communication without compromising safeguarding or judicial decision-making.
The conversation will reflect on what is being learned in practice, what supports judicial confidence, how boundaries are maintained and what early lessons may inform wider replication.
Key themes
The scale of family court pressure and what it means in practice
Why court decisions alone cannot meet ongoing family needs
The Wellingborough Pilot, how court-linked mediation works day to day
Judicial confidence, safeguards and clear boundaries
Engagement, timing and proportionality of intervention
Early learning for replication and wider system change
What delegates will gain
A clear picture of the current pressures facing the family courts
Practical insight into the Wellingborough Pilot and how it operates in a live court environment
Learning about what supports engagement, trust and safer outcomes
A grounded view of applied reform, based on what is happening now rather than aspiration
How it connects to other sessions
This session sits at the heart of the conference theme of bridging silos. It links directly to Sir Andrew McFarlane’s address on compassionate reform and provides a real-world system counterpart to the neuroscience, safeguarding and psychological foundations explored earlier in the day. It also sets up the performance later in the afternoon by keeping the child’s lived experience at the centre of system design.