Stephen Wildblood KC
KC, Family & High Court Judge, Mediator,
Arbitrator, Playwright and Author
Stephen Wildblood KC was the Designated Family Judge for the Bristol area for ten years before stepping down in November 2023. He practised at the Family bar for 27 years, the last 8 ½ in silk. He is a playwright and author. He writes plays in order to show the stories that lie behind many of the cases that are heard in the Family court. He has written and published two novels under pseudonyms– ‘The Water is Warm’ and ‘Harry’. He has also written in over 20 legal textbooks on issues of family law (including as a contributor to the Red Book) and often lectures on the full range of family issues. He continues to sit, part-time, in the Family and High Courts. He and Dr Freda Gardner (clinical psychologist) have set up an LLP which offers to assist couples resolve their family issues relating to money and children without litigation. They are both trained mediators. Stephen is a qualified arbitrator in relation to issues relating to children and Family Finances. Stephen has also joined 3 PB chambers as an associate member offering private FDRs, early neutral evaluation and arbitration. He believes that Family litigation should be a last resort.
Day 1 - Stephen Wildblood & HHJ Louise McCabe | Fireside Coversation
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.