End of an era?
I’m away at the moment, trying to decompress after another year that can be best described as a mixed bag. Some joy, some loss, much hard work.
But as the clock strikes midnight at the end of 2025 I will shed one hat and put on another. I will stop being the Chair of the Transparency Project, and become (as if by magic) the Vice Chair of the FLBA.
My feelings are mixed about this too. Excitement and trepidation about the FLBA, and sadness and hope about the Transparency Project. It isn’t healthy for any one organisation to have the same leader forever, so I hope that in stepping down from the TP I will also free it up to become something more than ‘Lucy’s pet project’ (it is much more than that, because it has always been very much a team effort, but that is the perception), and something more enduring. I’ll still be involved in TP, but it’s time for others to take it forward.
In the same way, I hope that new hands and eyes at the FLBA will also do that organisation some good – whilst Leslie Samuels and I have been around on the FLBA committee (and Leslie as an officer) for some years, we are both relative newcomers in comparison to the outgoing chair, James Roberts. I don’t think the members of the FLBA fully appreciate the work he has put in on their behalf over the years, and the impact that work has had, so although I am undoubtedly nothing like a clone of James (the mind boggles at such an idea), I do know that whatever Leslie and I are able to achieve during our terms of office will be based upon that solid foundation. We have much to thank James for and a lot to live up to.
Anyway, this is all very worthy. I hope that this short post finds you well, that it will go out on cue at its scheduled time and that it will find its way into your inbox whilst you are sipping a lovely drink on a very squishy sofa – whether that drink is a delightful chablis, a sloe gin, a pina colada or a hot chocolate – and that you will have had some brief respite from the onslaught of time sensitive and emotionally taxing work that we all do.
May 2026 bring you peace and contentment. Look after yourselves x
Lawyer v AI [2025] PT (Fam) – Some thoughts for litigants in person on the risks of using AI in your Family Court case
If I had a quid for every email that comes into my inbox about the use of AI in law, I’d be retiring. Horror stories about lawyers misusing AI, lying about using AI, dire warnings about hallucinations, guidance for judges on using AI, warnings from data protection gurus about the perils of using AI for your case, relentless offers of software and better legal research tools powered by AI, speeches by judges about the future of AI*, news articles by evangelical professors about how AI will replace us all before too long, dedicated blogs from lawyers attempting to track all the horror stories….and surprisingly few about use of AI by litigants in person. So, what about litigants in person? In the family court there are vast numbers of litigants in person (LiPs), mostly in dispute about finances or children after a separation. It stands to reason that LiPs are using AI in preparation for their Family Court hearings. Why wouldn’t they? Everyone else is doing it and its right there at the...
What is the difference between a ‘QLR’ and a QLR?
It's Friday. I've been staring at a screen all day and my eyes have gone funny from scrolling through spreadsheets. I need a change of scene before resuming the trawl. Or failing that a change of topic. Aha. I'll tackle that QLR judgment. I tell you now, I am perplexed by this one. I've been mulling it over in the back of my brain all week and its got me awl of a muddle. In the back of my brain I have been thinking up amusing alternative meanings for 'QLR'....imaginative unabbreviations if you will. Quite Limited Role. Question Lots. Really? Questions Lack Relevance? Questioning Like Rumpole Questioning Lite. Representation? Quite Literally Ridiculous... QLR Law: Resources? Quash Litigants' Rights Quell Litigant Rebellion Quite Like Representation Quixotic, Lost, Rare... Questions Largely Rhetorical Quizzical Looks Required Quick, Let's Run.... QLR Lost? Right.... Enough nonsense. To the case! Which is: K v P (Criminal Solicitor as Court-Appointed QLR) [2025] EWFC 321. (You can tell...
Joining the dots…
Last week the Public Accounts Committee published a damning report telling us that family justice was failing families, that delay was an endemic problem, and that the system was fragmented, rubbish with data, lacked transparency and accountability, and as a result was inefficient. No surprises there. None of it is new. People have been shouting it into the void for years. The report drew particular attention to a shortage of District Judges and social workers, and to the failure to get on with implementing Pathfinder nationally. Whilst there isn't much to quibble about in the conclusions reached, notably missing is any focus on the resource issues that are a key part of the context to those delays and failures. If you don't fund a thing properly it ain't gonna work properly. The Family Law Bar Association provided evidence to the Committee which has been published as part of the report here. Whilst welcoming the points and recommendations that were made, they also say It is...
Colleagues, we have a problem
Harriet Harman KC's report is out. It brings with it a complicated mix of depression and optimism: depression (but not surprise) at how bad things are, and optimism because this report was commissioned by the Bar Council on our behalf and is now being embraced by it. They do so buoyed by a groundswell of support for action and change. We hope that other bodies who also are required to do their part will step up to the plate. The BSB for one - I haven't seen any immediate response from them (though their home page does link to a 'new' page on bullying and harassment. There was one section of the report which left me feeling more pessimistic than anticipated, and that was the section about the judges (Chapter 10). I didn't feel optimistic about that. Joshua Rozenberg has done a summary of the report here, so rather than repeat that I thought I'd focus on Chapter 10, which Joshua doesn't deal with in any detail. This is what Harriet Harman says about the judicial response: There is,...
Staying Sane in Family Law
The lovely people at Bath Publishing* are running a series of workshops to launch a new book they are publishing by Anne Marie Carvalho. The book is called Staying Sane in Family Law – and the name Anne Marie Carvalho is one which often crops up in the context of wellbeing discussions. For a fee of £150 you get to attend one of the workshops and your own copy of the book. If I wasn't in court elsewhere on the day of the one local to me I would be going. For those interested details are here: https://bathpublishing.com/products/staying-sane-in-family-law-seminars * Declaration of interest. They are lovely because they publish my book Family Court Without a Lawyer, so obviously have very good taste in authors. I haven't read the book, but I do know that Anne Marie is highly respected in her field. And anything that can help us stay sane (or regain some sanity) in the crazy world of family law is A. Good. Thing.
About this blog
“Pink Tape” isn’t just about family law. I post about topics that interest me, which mostly revolve around family law, but also include non-legal family-related topics as well as unrelated subjects. I hope this blog will convince at least one person that not all of us in the legal profession are money-hungry sharks. Some of us are actually quite nice. Additionally, I aim to provide useful information about family law for those working in the field without being too heavy or boring.
The primary goal of the blog is to improve the quality of public information and discussions about legal issues.
I understand that not everyone is a fan of “Pink Tape” or family lawyers in general.
latest
Blog Posts
Colleagues, we have a problem
Harriet Harman KC's report is out. It brings with it a complicated mix of depression and optimism: depression (but not surprise) at how bad things are, and optimism because this report was commissioned by the Bar Council on our behalf and is now being embraced by it....
Staying Sane in Family Law
The lovely people at Bath Publishing* are running a series of workshops to launch a new book they are publishing by Anne Marie Carvalho. The book is called Staying Sane in Family Law – and the name Anne Marie Carvalho is one which often crops up in the context of...
Court Service Cover Up?
NB I think this post was accidentally published yesterday in half finished form, something that has never happened before. It probably didn't make a lot of sense. However, this is now the tidied and completed version. The BBC Headline reads: Courts service 'covered...
Must D.A.S.H.
The BBC ran a story this week wherein MP Jess Phillips complains that the DASH risk assessment has 'obvious problems' and 'doesn't work'. From a quick read the first impression is that the tool itself is deficient, but that isn't the whole story. The piece also...
How much expectation can you fit in one suitcase?
Well, here I am in the interstitial space between my last case of the summer and the ceremonial packing of the suitcase for ‘the holiday’. The holiday into which I will mentally pack all my hopes and dreams and wellbeing needs, and both more activity and more rest...
A plea for some self restraint
I don't want to sound like your mother, but I can't help noticing that a surprising number of family lawyers have found the ColdPlay accidental affair reveal to be irresistible fodder for a spot of marketing. And as yet another post pops into my LinkedIn feed this...
Still here…
There hasn't been any Pink Tape email for a long time... It isn't entirely because I've not posted anything - I have, in fact, posted a few things....In June I posted four posts - averaging one a week is not quite the rate I was going in the heyday of Pink Tape, but...
The delicate politics of the automated reply
I've changed my out of office three times in the last couple of weeks. One change to say I was so busy that I might take some time to respond (this one offended someone who wasn't as busy and who presumably thought I was just being a show off and rubbing their nose in...
A confusing post-script
I came across an article in the Gazette this week with the headline: Judge issues pre-trial legal aid plea after mother left alone The article refers to this judgment of DJ Keating: London Borough of Sutton v A mother & Anor [2025] EWFC 147 (B) (bonus points to...
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