Not Good Enough

This week the response to my request from a London County Court for an urgent interim contact hearing (1/2 day time estimate) was an offer of a slot ‘in December or possibly end of January’. That is just not good enough for a father of a 18 month old child who wants to see his baby daughter and hasn’t seen her for a couple of months already. Its far too long. Credit to the Judge who is going to try and sort out something better, but what am I supposed to say to clients? ‘Deal with it?’

And whilst I’m griping when did it become ok for court staff (at a different court) to chew gum and wear tatty t-shirts at the counter whilst ‘serving’ customers? If she had even been polite it might not have mattered but she was full on rude and pretty useless.

What exactly does a family barrister do?

Insightful question…Unless you’ve had the misfortune to need a family barrister you most probably don’t have much of a clue what we do. Most people I meet (including my Mum, bless her) don’t have a very clear picture of what barristers do, let alone family barristers. And if your best source is (mainly american) legal dramas on telly you’ve probably got it completely arse about face. Continue Reading…