I am barrister practising mainly in family law. I also practise employment law. I have been up and running for five years and am still amazed at how little most people understand about the work that I do. I’d love to think that this blog will persuade at least one person we aren’t all the money hungry sharks you think we are. Some of us are quite nice really.
Of course, everything here will be suitably anonymised so that nobody (including me) gets into hot water.
And, in case you were wondering nothing in this blog is intended to constitute or be taken as legal advice. You should take legal advice in relation to any specific case.
Moderation - Unfortunately I’ve had to start moderating comments on this blog. Please be assured I don’t plan to block sensible contributions to a discussion, whether the contributors agree with me or not - but I will weed out comments that are seeking to exploit this blog as a forum to air their own negative views about lawyers in a repetitive or offensive manner. I will try and moderate as quickly as possible.
Hi! Have just added you to my family law blogroll. We are a small but growing band. Delia Venables is doing a piece on family law blogs and if you get in touch with her she will probably include you on her website listings.
Good luck with it. A reciprocal link would be lovely.
As from Tuesday 25th September the popular Radio 4 series “Law in Action” will be available as a podcast from http://www.bbc.co.uk/lawinaction or via iTunes
The series returns with features on compulsion of witnesses, the use of DNA evidence and a powerful interview with the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Anne Owers.
With best wishes,
[...] About [...]
Hi
I am an Insolvency Practitioner and like you I am eager to dispel myths about the profession I am in and at the same time ensure more people get to know more about the basic building blocks of insolvency law and practice.
Increasingly I see the grey area between insolvency and family law as a challenge. I am sure that you see it the same, being the flip side of the coin.
I would appreciate it if we could swop thoughts on where the grey areas between our two specialisms are, how grey they are at the moment, and what developments there may be in the courts and in response to the cases passing through the courts going forward that may effect what either of us does and the advice we give to clients/action we have to take?
Regards
Paul
Hi Paul,
This grey area seems to be a hotbed of activity at the moment, with new case law appearing all the time. Its clearly one of those areas that family lawyers need to know something about, and I ensure I am up to speed with the basics, but those who are truly expert in both areas are I think quite few and far between. Both are highly specialist areas. I am certainly not one of them.
It certainly seems that now more than ever the family courts (and family lawyers) cannot ignore a bankruptcy or a possible bankruptcy, and that there may be more cases in which we will have to take specialist advice from an insolvency practitioner in order to give a client the soundest of advice (whether that be on behalf of a debtor or her/his spouse)…
I am putting together a seminar for family lawyers on this, it will take me a month or so, but I am am sure that a lot will ‘out’ from taking the time out to bring it all together.
Have you heard the outcome of the appeal on Hill & Bangham v Haines?
Hi Paul,
Judgment not out I don’t think. See Family Lore (http://www.familylore.co.uk/2007/11/patience.html), who I think is keeping tabs on this…
Loo
Hi
is there any way of finding out what recent posts (in threads) have been made?
You’ve responded to a couple of comments I’ve made, but I only found out by checking the thread.
Regards
STH
No idea. Anyone out there who can tell us?
Recent comments are easy to add with WordPress. Just go to your Dashboard, select Presentation, then Widgets, and choose the Recent Comments widget. (You have to save the changes, of course.)
So easy I’ve done it in the blink of an eye. Thanks.
Please excuse the shameless self promotion, but…
You (and your readers) might be interested to know that we have recently launched a new blog named “The Ancillary Actuary” (http://www.ancillaryactuary.co.uk). The blog is intended to promote discussion of the financial aspects of divorce, amongst the professionals working in that area. Your views on our content would be much appreciated.
Regards
James Moore
Bradshaw Dixon & Moore Ltd.
PS. It is not my intention to “spam” your site to get publicity for ours. I perfectly understand that you might not wish to publish this comment.