observations of a very worrying family court hearing - allegations of domestic abuse and a barrister (QLR) who didn't appear to be familiar with the court documents or his own questions.

Now on Pink Tape @familoo.pinktape.co.uk writes about this case in the context of the impact of legal aid restrictions on family justice - Pink Tape | a blog from the family bar share.google/wUcRQnYDIGRw...

About time too (instruction of experts - new rules) pinktape.co.uk/uncategorize...

Bar Conference Tickets now on sale. Check booking link for details of discounts available. Save the date: 14 Nov 2026

Family Barristers (E&W): hopefully you’ve all been reading our email newsletters telling you what’s going on and what we’re doing to support members, incl. on legal aid fees. Please get in touch to share your views, if you aren’t in fact getting emails, or indeed to join your specialist Bar Assn.

A simple but brilliant initiative from @tbij.bsky.social which will really help join the dots on transparency and facilitate more coverage of cases that deserve our attention. www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

This was a good week to book a hotel with no air con…

Randomly dying my hair in a hotel room and it feels a bit Thelma and Louise / Quentin Tarantino…. (They probably don’t dye their hair in T&L or any Tarantino movie but you know what I mean)….

I have Premier Inn Fatigue…

Look at this beautiful little thing that was resting on my car yesterday! What’s he called?

😬

Heartbreaking. Important we hear this. www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

Wow. This is alarming (though sadly not at all surprising). Violent rioters are also violent thugs at home shocker!

Having my own hair tested as part of our Radio 4 Documentary- on at 8pm and available now on Sounds

Wading through the grey goo: pinktape.co.uk/uncategorize...

Judicial watchdog backtracks on ‘bullying’ investigation

The FLBA Scholarship 2026 will open on 29 May! We are able to offer a scholarship of up to £25,000 to applicants intending to practise in family law, but who might not otherwise be able to afford their bar training. Deadline 30 June 4pm. More details here: www.flba.co.uk/flba-scholar...

More needs to be done to tackle the problem of human trafficking in the United Kingdom, an international monitoring group says in a report published today. GRETA remains concerned that victims are convicted for offences that they were compelled to commit. rozenberg.substack.com/p/traffickin...

The bid for escape continues….

No YOU just came back from having your nails done and couldn’t resist doing a bit of urgent weeding… Green fingers, see? Which has just brought back a cute memory of recently-18’s way of saying fingernails when he was wee: “ningersnails”. Do you like my green ningersnails?

a lovely tribute to Giles Peaker @nearlylegal.co.uk amidst the literally hundreds this week. Interestingly @colinyeo.bsky.social traces the development of legal blogs that have helped so many people. Nice to see a mention for family law blogging @familoo.pinktape.co.uk

If the UK were a US state, how would it rank? It depends entirely on what you measure! Fascinating table showing a startlingly different picture depending on the choice of metric. Source: www.linkedin.com/posts/diogo-...

Have done the Lord’s work this morning. Went to my old school to talk about careers in the law. Took wig and gown as props - along with my (trick) gavel. Tackling gavel-related legal myths one school at a time.

As approximately seventy billion WhatsApp messages and eleventy five emails have now simultaneously informed me, Stephen Cobb LJ is the next President of the Family Division. A candidate with an excellent combination of brains and heart: www.gov.uk/government/n...

Normally I swiftly kill maidenhair ferns, but this one seemed to like the bathroom. Only now it seems to be making a sudden bid for escape…this tendril has doubled in length in about 48 hours. I’ll be honest, I’m worried it might reach my bed overnight and strangle me while I sleep….

Is it me or does microsoft word (mac) crash A LOT lately (since a recent OS update I think)? (yes I have installed any app updates when available) wondering if its something to do with the interface w/ onedrive…

“Trainwave” - when you have a brilliant thought whilst snoozing on a morning train but can’t action it because on a train…. (C) @familoo.pinktape.co.uk E.g. this morning I had a brainwave on the train. Then I had a brainwave that this should be called a trainwave. Which makes it a double trainwave!

Look what just arrived in the post unexpectedly - its funny ‘cos it’s true!

Family Legal Aid Fees – Is patience really a virtue? Our Chair Leslie Samuels KC’s article on Family Legal Aid fees has been published in the February 2026 Family Law (journal) [2026] Fam Law 153. For those who have a subscription the link to the article is here: lnkd.in/ezpSwxu4

QLRs - what do the published judgments tell us? pinktape.co.uk/uncategorize...

I’ve reached the life stage where as soon as I clock a survey is so poorly designed as to render my responses useless* I immediately bin it off. Grrr! Time wasters! My democratic bones tell me I have a say & am obligated to use it, so I start each survey with hope. I am a fool. *100% of all surveys

Oh, marvellous!

Finished my thing last week…which, it turns out, was a shawl…(and handbag and earrings) A bit bereft at the end of my project, so am trying to remember how to make patchwork using all the upholstery samples I hoarded when choosing a sofa. Makes my fingers hurt and I hate threading tiny needles!

Mazur hearing fascinating. Quite hard to follow w/o access to skeletons, but broadly kept up. Can’t shake the feeling that the law as enacted might not be *quite* the same as the law as we might want it to be…a lot of emphasis on the disaster that will ensue if its not. Ct now adjnd to 10.30 Weds.

Analysis of the implications of Re Y (Experts and Alienating Behaviour) by @familoo.pinktape.co.uk

Quel surprise. They refused an EHCP. Of course they did. Because my boy will time out by the time we get through ANOTHER appeal (or by the time they run the clock down & concede it at the 11th hour as per the last 2). Such a waste of time and energy - ours, theirs, the tribunal… 😡😤 Off we go again…

This judgment should make interesting reading when it arrives. A turning point, perhaps…and what a tragedy for this child that it took six years to set right… www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

This week has been non stop … absolutely shattered and still not home…doom scrolling and posting this to try and make sure i don’t fall asleep and miss my stop!

Family Legal Aid payments are starting to resume, but so are recoupments. We’re getting lots of emails from members about issues or potential issues with recoupments - please check our emails to members for useful information that might help, and please get in touch with us directly if it doesn’t.

www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2... This week the Supreme Court will hear the appeal against the judgments that the High Court can't use its inherent jurisdiction to set aside a validly made adoption order, when the children are older and want the adoption to be 'undone'

Dear irritatingly, relentlessly cheerful recorded voice lady fronting up the Royal Mail lost parcel number, If your *normal* recorded message says that yr busier than normal then yr NOT busier than normal! You just don’t have enough staff & aren’t prioritising customer service. Yours irritatedly,

Bookings are now open for the annual dinner on 27 Feb. Members can book their tickets via our website and details are in today’s member’s email. Www.flba.co.uk

The Covid lockdown period provided unexpected opportunities to discover the advantages and disadvantages of holding court hearings 'remotely' online. Currently, family courts prefer to hold hearings in person but there's a general move toward more... https://transparencyproject.org.uk/?p=30259

A lovely obituary observer.co.uk/profile/obit...

What's the difference between a barrister and a solicitor (version 2.0) pinktape.co.uk/uncategorize...

Stop referencing fake case citations, judges warned www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/stop-re...