Pink Tape

a blog from the family bar

Government Consults on Clare’s Law

Theresa May this week launched a long awaited consultation on so called Clare’s Law, about which I have written before in the Guardian. It’s proper name is the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme. I’ve written about this before, when Clare’s Law was no more than a twinkle in a Minister’s eye. It’s helpful to have some more [...]

Manifesto for Family Justice

This morning (24th October) the FLBA together with the Bar Council and an alliance of other organisations publishes a Manifesto for Family Justice.   The alliance, which comprises the Association of Lawyers for Children, the Bar Council, CAADA, the Children’s Commissioner, the Family Law Bar Association, Gingerbread, Liberty, the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, Resolution and Women’s Aid, has called upon the Government to: ·         Protect vulnerable women and [...]

FLBA Resolutions

The following resolutions were unanimously approved at the national meeting of the Family Law Bar Association on 17th September 2011. They have been sent to the Government : The FLBA calls on the Government to include in the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill (“the Bill”) a specific provision requiring the Lord Chancellor, in the [...]

What Kind of Debate Should We Be Having About Domestic Violence?

This post is a guest blog post written by Sarah Phillimore. Sarah is a family barrister with over 15 years of experience. She tweets as @SVPhillimore and this is her first foray into blogging. This post arose from a tweet from @change4victims calling for support for an e-petition entitled “review of access laws for domestic abusers”, subsequently retweeted by @womensaid. The petition [...]

Clare’s Law

Today the Guardian published a piece I wrote about the proposed Clare’s Law. You can read it here: Why Clare’s Law won’t prevent domestic violence  You might also like to read a rather more eloquent discussion of the same topic by Libby Brooks, also in the Guardian: ‘Clare’s law’ offers nothing but empty empowerment  Still haven’t [...]

Naughty Naughty!

The most recent offender to be placed on Nearly Legal’s naughty step is the “family law expert” quoted in a recent Daily Mail article concerning the recent Supreme Court decision in Yemshaw. Adam Wagner at the UK Human Rights Blog has also commented on the endemic problem of inaccurate legal reporting, using this case as [...]

The Last Refuge

Haven’t had a chance to listen but h/t to @OfficialF4J for link to programme on R4 tonight about Male Victims of DV, The Last Refuge. 7 days left on iPlayer.

Dads-to-be excluded from ultrasound scans

Rob Williams writes in the Guardian about the practice at Basildon hospital of excluding fathers to be from ultrasound scans. He suspect[s] that the policy to exclude men from the scanning room is rooted in a belief that men are not important to the process of bringing a baby into the world. Whilst I sympathise [...]

Contact Activities – the big giveaway!

Contact Activity Directions – remember them? Yes, the little used Contact Activity provisions have received a bit of a boost as of 1 April: they are now provided free of charge to any parent ordered to attend such an activity. . Previously, you will recall (or perhaps not): parents who were eligible for public funding [...]

Splitting Headache

To split or not to split? That is the eternal question, answered here by new Prez in new guidance. In short: split only when it serves a purpose. And don’t forget split listing (or not) is a judicial decision. Lord Justice Wall (little known founder of Wall’s Ice Cream) also adds a reminder that splits [...]

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    A blog in which I ricochet from too serious to too flippant, and alternate between a bit clever, a bit interesting and a bit ranty: Pink Tape neatly functions as both a blog about family law and a therapeutic escape valve for me. >>more




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