Pink Tape

a blog from the family bar

Lightning Fast Lawyers

40 minutes apparently. That’s the time it takes to get to and from Bath County Court from chambers in Bristol. Or at least my clerks tell me (to snorts of derision from me) that this is all the LSC say I can claim. There is a list that tells them so. Lets assume that we [...]

ISWs throw in the towel

Community Care reports on the prospect of Independent Social Workers quitting over the fees cap to be introduced by the LSC in October. What the article fails to disentangle (in fact it rather adds to the confusion) is the distinction between ISWs contracted by CAFCASS on a self employed basis to carry out Guardian or [...]

Shock News – Family Justice System Stretched to Breaking Point

Thanks to Family Law Week for alerting me to this judgment of Thorpe LJ in which the court considered the proper husbanding of limited resources in determining the way forward in a contact case. It was in the course of that judgment last year that Thorpe LJ remarked that the family justice system was ‘stretched [...]

Barrister Facing Misconduct Charges For Graduated Fee Claim

I’m not going to comment on this news story in the Telegraph other than to say that: 1 The professional misconduct proceedings appear to be ongoing so we don’t know if the charges will be made out and 2 If true this does not reflect well on the bar and plays into the hands of [...]

Reformed Meat

So the Government has published its Families & Relationships Green Paper in which it proposes a fundamental review of the Family Justice System and a number of other reforms. Like John Bolch at Family Lore I’m not sure what this really adds up to. There are a number of press releases from the relevant departments: [...]

A Message of Optimism For 2010

I have sought the guidance of the Geek and there is hope for the family bar after all…Apparently I need first to ditch hubby number one and find a more…uh…economically viable on. I KNEW I was missing a big part of the economic equation that made this job worth it. The solution is so simple. Thanks GL [...]

Reporting the Reporter

I have a current bugbear, but don’t get me wrong: I don’t want to add to the mass of negativity surrounding the dread word ‘social worker’. This post really only concerns the cases where the quality of s7 reports prepared by social workers in private proceedings falls far short of the expected standard. Most reports [...]

CAFCASS Given Funding Boost

The Times reports on p 23 this morning that Cafcass has been given an extra £1.6m to help with the backlog in care cases.

Unintended Consequences

I had an interesting chat the other day with a child’s solicitor about one of the unintended consequences of the public law outline, with its emphasis on pre-proceedings assessment and meetings. Children’s solicitors are really a niche within a niche. However, now that parents are able to instruct solicitors prior to the issue of proceedings in order [...]

Family Legal Aid – The Fat Lady Sings

The Government announced its decision in respect of the family legal aid fee reforms on Wednesday this week. As a result of me seeming to have to do ever increasing amounts of work just to bring in the same amount of money I have not been able to look at the announcement in detail or to post anything [...]

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