I have been modernised…

This week I attended a lecture by our new Designated Family Judge here in Bristol, His Honour Judge Wildblood QC, to inform the legal community about modernisation, the new PLO and how things will be in the new world order. Although some of the lecture dealt with local approach to particular issues, the majority of [...]

Doom and Gloom and very black Coffee

Just thought I’d pop in and say hi. I am still here, not-blogging away quietly. I’m freshly arrived back from completing the annual bar survey, which prompted all sorts of deep consideration of life and the future. To respond to the questions I had to tot up how many hours a week I work (don’t [...]

O-ver-load

You know that thing when the Daleks get a bit hot under the carapace and spin around in confused fashion before grinding to a smokey halt, toilet plunger wilting at a jaunty angle? That. That is the feel of those of us struggling to absorb the vast amounts of new guidance, update and direction. “All-ca-ses-must-be-com-ple-ted-in-twen-ty-six-weeks…You-must-com-ply.” [...]

Stick to the day job

It is a truth universally acknowledged that at least 90% of people who work with children have not a clue about parental responsibility. Well, perhaps not universally acknowledged, and perhaps not 90%. And perhaps some of them have a little bit of a clue, but a little bit of a clue is a dangerous thing. [...]

Purely Economics

Today Margaret Thatcher was buried. I didn’t listen to the wall to wall coverage as I was in court, on a legal aid brief in the kind of case that would probably not attract legal aid if it commenced now (in fact there were dv issues, but I’m doubtful my client could have jumped the [...]

Litigants in Person – Smooth on the outside crunchy on the inside

Litigants in Person are a lot like armadillos. I know this: I’ve written a book about them (Litigants in Person not armadillos). Although, unlike Harry Enfield, I’ve found them sometimes to be a bit more spiky than smooth. But I’ve been thinking about the internal bit a lot lately, because I think it’s the key [...]

Oh Look, I’ve Started a Trend

It’s been a slow burn folks – Family Courts Without a Lawyer was published in 2011, and many were the perplexed looks and guffaws from colleagues at the bar back then. They thought I was nuts, some thought I was possibly mildly treacherous. But now it’s all the rage. It’s like Gangnam or Super Samurai [...]

Legal Aid Reprieve

Nope…Can’t do it. I had in mind a sort of black-humour April Fool : LASPO repealed, Jackson placed on hold, Theresa May and Abu Hamza go into shoewear business together – that sort of thing, But I’m not in the mood. No fluffy bunnies round here. Legal aid has been done in, and I worked [...]

Absolutely Transparent

Transparency in family justice is an issue that cannot be swept under the carpet – it ain’t going away. This week Christopher Booker wrote a piece in the Telegraph (bluntly titled “Australia’s scandal of forced adoption is happening here in Britain“) in which he drew a parallel between the forced adoptions in Australia, for which Prime [...]

Access all stakeholders

The Family Justice Knowledge Hub. Sounds modern dunnit? It’s not really. It’s a newsletter in word format with a boxy design, which collates details of recent and current research bearing upon matters of family justice. Boxy but useful. Like a volvo. You can subscribe to it by emailing knowledgehub@justice.gsi.gov.uk. Not that you’d know because there [...]