There are an increasing number of parenting apps out there which separated parents can choose from. Depending on the platform, they offer calendar and messaging facilities and various other useful features such as lawyer access, timestamped geotagging and tone meters. One of the better known apps is Our Family Wizard or OFW (other parenting apps are available etc etc). As far as I know it is only OFW which has developed a suggested template to be incorporated into a court order so that there is clarity about the way in which the app is to be used. Templates of this sort are quite handy to have available, and are ready to adapt to the need of the case. Although the OFW template refers to features specific to that app I dare say there is potential to use it as a starting point or framework even for cases involving parents using other apps. The OFW templates have recently been updated to bring them 'in line with the new standard orders which are now being used across the family justice...

The burden of writing a post about becoming King's Counsel has been weighing heavily on my shoulders since March. There are so many posts that I could write on that theme, all of them susceptible to complaints of self-absorption or privilege. And so I have fallen silent. On here, at least. I have been ruminating about 'the post'. The very fact and longevity of my blogging silence has also been on my mind. It is not my intention to stop blogging just because I have been 'elevated' (as people keep saying to me). I've not died and gone to heaven or anything. And I've not suddenly become too important to blog (though I have been busy juggling). But I am uncertain now of the sound of my own voice out here in the wilds of the internet. Is it more important for it to evolve or for it to stay the same and will my words sound differently to others than they do in my head (which I am increasingly realising is a thing)? Part of me has felt I ought to write something about 'IT' (becoming a KC) -...

On Sunday morning, the London Victims' Commissioner tweeted this: "Father charged with rape is made party to child’s care proceedings - a shocking example of how family court continues to work in conflict with the criminal court and exposes victims and children to risk and trauma." There are a number of tweets from others with an interest in the family justice system in similar vein, but this one is a good illustration of the themes. The Commissioner was talking about a case reported in the Guardian under this headline: 'Father in UK charged with rape made party to child’s care proceedings - Court of appeal overrules decision to exclude man who allegedly conceived the boy with his niece through rape'. The article and tweet are referring to this judgment (points to the Guardian for linking to it) : S (A Child) [2023] EWCA Civ 706. The article, by Hannah Summers, is a good summary of the decision. The headline (which Hannah won't have written) is an unhelpful and incomplete summary of...

Last autumn I was a bit mardy about the template orders when it came to their attempt to warn litigants about the rules around confidentiality. https://www.pinktape.co.uk/rants/you-draft-fool/ I should have got around to politely raising my concerns with the committee that were tasked with reviewing the templates, but I didn't. Life was a bit challenging last autumn... However, happily, they have identified the issue anyway, and redrafted the confidentiality wording so that it now accurately and fully tells people what they can't do without accidentally stopping them doing things they can and should be allowed to continue doing. The wording is similar to the wording I suggested last year, but actually I think its better than mine. So we're all good. Thumbs up. Yay. Here is a short post I've just popped up on Transparency Project setting out the changes and linking to the templates. I believe there are suggestions the formatting issues may have been improved too, but I haven't dared...