About

Who’s behind Pink Tape?

This blog is not anonymously written (although parties and children will not be identified). It is written by Lucy Reed, a family law barrister (that’s me). On this blog you will see me identified as ‘Familoo’ (a concatenation of ‘family’ and ‘Loo’ – short for Lucy). I have been at the family bar for approaching a decade and am still amazed at how little most people understand about the work that I do and what goes on inside the Family Courts (even my friends – you know who you are).

Since summer 2008 when I made my escape from the big smoke and back to my roots in the West Country I have been a member of St John’s Chambers in Bristol. Best move I ever made…

According to the Legal 500 2011 I have an “impressive ability to get to the crux of a complicated and messy dispute”. That’s a euphemism for a lawyer who verbalises what she thinks a bit too readily. In 2012 they said I was “a strong advocate and hardworking” (transl. : “WILL NOT SHUT the flip UP!”)

About the blog

Pink Tape is not just about family law: I post about what interests me and whilst that is largely family law, it also includes non-family legal stuff, non-legal family stuff and stuff totally unrelated to either law or family.

I’d love to think that this blog will persuade at least one person we aren’t all the money hungry sharks you think we are. Some of us are quite nice really. And I’d like to think that I can provide some useful information about family law for those working in the area without getting too heavy or boring.

An emerging purpose behind the blog is to enhance the quality of public information and debate about legal matters. There is some great journalism out there, from law reporting and legal commentary to simple reporting of legal stories. But there is also some terrible, sloppy, malicious and inaccurate journalism. They should know better and do better.

Not everyone likes Pink Tape or family lawyers in general. Some of the people who have given it the thumbs up are Law Actually (Blawggies 2010 – Best Legal Commentary), The Times (top legal Blogger March 2011), and The Guardian (“one of the best legal bloggers for style and content” May 2011). Pink Tape has recently become a part of the Guardian Legal Network. In October 2012 I won the Jordans Family Law Readers Commentary Award for my ”entertaining and informative” blog, having been shortlisted for the Family Law Most Innovative Family Lawyer award two years running.

Rules of the blog

Of course, everything on the blog is suitably anonymised (or made up) so that nobody (including me) gets into hot water. Where necessary I have tweaked facts to ensure that individual cases are not identifiable. I will not post comments that in my opinion offend against the law in respect of the privacy of family proceedings.

I will not publish anything which I think might have potential to be defamatory. I don’t have time to research every assertion made in a comment – so I have to adopt a cautious approach in order to avoid (hopefully) costly legal proceedings or nasty threatening letters. If you are confident it’s not defamatory you are free to publish it yourself elsewhere at your own risk.

Nothing in this blog is intended to constitute or be taken as legal advice, so please don’t treat it as such. You may think it applies to your particular circumstances but it almost certainly doesn’t and I cannot accept responsibility for any reliance you may place upon its contents. The information contained on the blog is as up to date and accurate as I can make it given my other commitments – Pink Tape is a hobby which I fit in as and when. This means I cannot and do not cover all changes to the law or update information that becomes outdated or obsolete.

And of course I cannot be responsible for the content of sites linked to from this blog, either in terms of their accuracy or the views expressed on them.

Moderation - Unfortunately I’ve had to start moderating comments on this blog. Please be assured I don’t plan to block sensible contributions to a discussion, whether the contributors agree with me or not - but I will weed out comments that are seeking to exploit this blog as a forum to air their own negative views about lawyers in a repetitive or offensive manner. I will try and moderate as quickly as possible.

Right of Reply – I try to be careful and fair with my posts on this blog and try to avoid causing upset to individuals, but if there is any post concerning you as an individual that contains an inaccuracy or mistake that you would like me to correct please post a comment and I will give you a right of reply. I will usually only edit or reject comments that contain offensive material or material which the law or rules of court prevent me from publishing.

Please feel free to email me with suggestions for topics I could cover or blog posts you’d like to see (email: familoo at pinktape dot co dot uk).