The Barristers – Episode Three

I don’t feel massively inspired to post about episode three – I watched it. And I think the most elegant way to sum up my response would be ‘meh’ (look it up, it’s in the dictionary now apparently). But perhaps that’s not sufficiently informative to make a very interesting blog post so I’ll plug on… [...]

All Conferenced Out

Just back from the Family Law Bar Association Conference in Oxford. I am now sitting down to watch episode 3 of The Barristers (great way to unwind after spending my Saturday on a Bussman’s I know), but some really interesting talks today and no doubt I will be blogging about some of the issues raised [...]

The Barristers

I’ve been too busy moving house to report on episode 2 of The Barristers before now. Geeklawyer and Family Lore have given their views – I’m inclined also to be less than bowled over. At least we got to see some family law in action which was a welcome reprieve - but frankly I’m bored with traipsing [...]

The Baby P Effect

An interesting article in the Independent about the so called ‘Baby P Effect’, particularly the stats showing an increase in applications this month compared to last November – considering the dip in the meanwhile apparently as a result of the increased fees this appears to be a direct result of an increase in defensive / [...]

Baby P

It is really quite striking how much of a frenzy there is surrounding the tragic case of Baby P. I have made no effort in this blog to keep up with the astonishing amount of news coverage of the case and of the question of child protection generally – I have a full time job [...]

moving on

Just a thought about how often in intractable contact cases it is very difficult for parents to move on – not only because of the issues in the case themselves but because of the need to retain eligibility for legal aid – often a parent (typically a father) is unable to go out and look [...]

Review of Family Law

I have yet to have the opportunity to look at this review headed up by IDS but those of you with spare time on your hands may wish to do so. P.S. Is this where the phrase ‘Guest parent’ has suddenly sprung from? I’ve certainly heard IDS on the radio this week opining about the [...]

The Barristers – Verdict In

Part 1 was a bit of a disappointment for me, but I’ll keep an open mind until the end of all four episodes…It was a bit crammed with the entertaining archaisms and amusing traditions which are frontloaded onto entry into the profession and frankly a bit hackneyed – the formal dinners and all the other stuff you have to contend with when training, and [...]

Race Row

The sacking of Sam Mason for her ‘racist’ comments to a taxi company has not only made the national news but has generated an astonishing amount of local comment (I gave up before I got to the bottom of the comments listed). Although there are big pockets of the west country which are not at all culturally [...]

Baby P

So many words bandied about by so many people. Big, descriptive, superlative words. Unimaginable. Horrific. And so it is. But ‘unspeakable’ (Times Leader earlier this week)? Plainly it isn’t, as everyone is doing just that. .  A lot of talk about ‘risk’. What is sometimes forgotten is that there are two sorts of risk. The [...]