Still adjusting to everyone assuming I’m a fancy pants… My pants are – in fact – still a slightly off white / grey because I, like most other humans, am apparently unable to run a load of whites without a rogue sock getting in.

I do have actual new blog posts up my sleeve / in my head somewhere, but it is proving a bit difficult to find time to sit and write them. And some of them require a bit of mulling over before I do so. Hence I’m afraid I’m going to blog-cheat a little to present to you some stuff I’ve done elsewhere.

First up – a podcast. I’ve been interviewed for various podcasts before, but this is the first one I’ve made (when I say made. I didn’t do the technical bit!). Jacky and I (also a podcast first timer) thought it was surprisingly good fun to do. I dare say I will do more when time permits. The topic was Vulnerability in Children and Financial Proceedings and if you’d like to listen it’s here. It’s predominantly ‘talking to’ other lawyers, but others might find it of use or interest. Keep an eye out too for other podcasts from the St John’s crew in the next couple of months.

Speaking of podcasts, I have been listening to more podcasts lately. I highly recommend The Advocacy Podcast series from Bibi Badejo. I have learnt and re-learnt a lot from listening, and have been re-enthused about re-engaging with improving my advocacy skills. I’ve also discovered I’ve ‘invented’ techniques that are very similar to those used by other advocates, and in some instances have tweaked my version in light of listening to their process description, in other instances I’ve simply learnt a better way of describing or understanding what i’ve been doing intuitively. Bibi is both a skilled advocate and interviewer and it is a pleasure to listen to her calm, clear and straightforward communication style as well as the interesting insights from her amazing range of interviewees. As one of the podcast episodes says, it is amazing how much commonality there is between very different lawyers operating in very different fields and jurisdictions. The similarities in the skillset required far outweigh the differences in style and process between jurisdictions.

What next? A book review of The Art and Craft of Judgment Writing by Max Barrett (TLDR – I liked it, even if it did take me a year to read it).

Lastly, I tried to help give an explanation of how care proceedings work, some of which was quoted in articles about the tragic case of Finley Boden, who was the subject of care proceedings at the time of his murder by his parents.

Hopefully that’s enough to be chewing over for now. The Advocacy Podcast should keep you going for a while on its own.