I have run out of vases
Pink Tape | A Blog from the Family bar.
by familoo
2d ago
Trigger warning: death.   My mum died last week. Her name was Suzanne (never Susan). I realised as I studied her face after it happened that I have never seen a dead body before. Her top lip was taut over her teeth. She looked weirdly waxen. Her forehead was cool on my lips as I kissed her goodbye. Right now I am learning a lot about the stuff that needs to be sorted when someone dies. There is a lot of it. And I am learning a lot too about the enormity of losing a parent. I can’t quite make sense of the fact that it is both something that almost everyone goes through at my stage of life ..read more
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What my out of office really means…
Pink Tape | A Blog from the Family bar.
by familoo
2w ago
The other day I put a polite but hopefully firm OOO on my emails, explaining that I am not taking on new work and will deal only with emails relating to existing commitments. This morning I seriously contemplated rewording it to simply read: “For the love of god, STOP. EMAILING. ME!” I flirted with the idea of adding some swears as a parting flourish (I love a good swear, it’s therapeutic). Of course, I haven’t done that. It’s nobody else’s fault that I need to draw a line. And they aren’t psychic. Also, I am a professional. But I have reached a stage where for the sake of my sanity and those ..read more
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Two more books, still working on that novel…
Pink Tape | A Blog from the Family bar.
by familoo
1M ago
Hot on the heels of the second edition of Transparency in the Family Courts, released last week, I received these beauties in the post today. The Public Law Dictionary is a new addition to this family of dictionaries, and I am one of the authors. Other titles include Private Law, TLATA and Inheritance Act, and Financial Remedies. It feels good to have both projects off my to do list, all finished and on my desk in glossy covered hard copy. You can buy a copy of the Dictionaries via Class Legal here. They come in print or ebook format (including pdf if you prefer that), and the digital version ..read more
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Transparency in the Family Courts – Publicity and Privacy in Practice
Pink Tape | A Blog from the Family bar.
by familoo
2M ago
I’m please to say that the Second Edition of our book Transparency in the Family Court – Publicity and Privacy in Practice is now available for pre-order from Bloomsbury Professional Press for £85. This time around it comes in a fetching shade of pond green. As you may imagine, there has been quite a lot to update since 2018, including the Transparency Review and its sequelae and various case law developments. It’s a fast moving field at the moment (good news) but Julie, Paul and I have made it as up to date as we could at the cut off date for going to print! The only things it doesn’t capture ..read more
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In defence of tit for tat
Pink Tape | A Blog from the Family bar.
by familoo
2M ago
I’ve been blessed with some lovely cooperative and charming opponents recently. And few who have been grouchy, rude and irrational. I’m a firm believer that being that person doesn’t pay off: it isn’t an effective strategy that assists clients. It signals a loss of objectivity or a lack of confidence, it shuts down the opportunities to reach compromise, it provokes retaliatory responses and escalation and it irritates judges. I don’t pretend I am the perfect opponent. We can all have our off days. But I try not to be that person. And over 20 years of testing, I’m confident that this approach i ..read more
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The Beacon
Pink Tape | A Blog from the Family bar.
by familoo
3M ago
The light over the front door flickers at The Beacon. There is a bit of damp creeping up the plaster and into the wiring. My dad would have fixed it, but he hasn’t been there for a year. There is a ‘sold’ sign at the top of the drive and my heart is breaking. The contract for sale sat on my kitchen table and watched me, taunting me to sign it for days until I gave in. Signing away our family home of 49 years, my memory bank, the place which connects us and where so many important things happened (so many small things, big things, small-big-important things), the walls where I was loved and com ..read more
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‘Please don’t confuse your ChatGPT search with my law degree’ AKA ‘The A.I. faked my homework, Sir’
Pink Tape | A Blog from the Family bar.
by familoo
3M ago
Civil Lit Tweet’s Gordon Exall highlighted a cringeworthy judgment today that really demonstrates the dangers of AI in a legal context. More importantly it demonstrates the particular dangers for people who are not egally trained, and don’t know what they are looking for or how to verify results or spot hallucinations and bad points. In this case a litigant in person who was representing herself at a tax tribunal appeal quoted nine AI-generated Tribunal decisions on ‘reasonable excuse’. They looked plausible, but when the lawyers smelled a rat, it was discovered that none of them actually exis ..read more
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Delay Repay
Pink Tape | A Blog from the Family bar.
by familoo
4M ago
In the golden age of rail travel when I were a lad I didn’t need to worry about delay repay. A train delay was a rarity that could be borne with equanimity, even if one couldn’t easily spell it. Now, it is a point of principle that on every delayed journey (which, let’s face it is every journey taken) I sit and complete the delay repay claim for the previous delayed journey. If the train wifi is up to it. Which it usually isn’t. There is a serious point here. Two actually. A toofer bonus. Firstly, a reminder to those who are more junior than me that this is available (I’m sure you already know ..read more
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Love the one you’re with
Pink Tape | A Blog from the Family bar.
by familoo
5M ago
Showing my age there, using *that* song title as a name for my post… But then, I am getting pretty ancient. As evidenced by the fact that this month we hit our 23rd wedding anniversary. I say hit, it was more the sort of dull thud that a pigeon makes when it knocks itself out careening into your patio doors. Once again, we’ve postponed the celebration, romantic weekend away bit of the anniversary. Other things seem more important right now and people need our attention. But we did manage to exchange cards a week after the actual anniversary, and to share a bottle of fizz before collapsing on t ..read more
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No Frills Justice – Part 2
Pink Tape | A Blog from the Family bar.
by familoo
6M ago
This is part 2 of a post about my observations at Central London Family Court in September 2023. In part 1 I described the first hearing I observed, Here I tell you about the second case I observed and make some general comments about my experience as a legal blogger. So, back to the third floor of the CFC. At the end of part 1 I left you at the door of court as everyone in the first case had all dispersed…   Shortly after, the other 2pm case in the list is called on. The clerk has enthusiastically shooed me into court with one hand whilst shooing the parties away with the other, so I exc ..read more
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