Tag Archives: pregnancy

Weebles Wobble But They Don’t Fall Down

I’m used to being kicked discreetly by my solicitor when I say something stupid in court (joke) but I have other distractions at the moment, such as a lack of anywhere to expand my lungs, a foot lodged under my ribs and the constant need that clients and opponents currently have to double check ‘you’re not about to have it now are you?’. Not to mention the urgent need to go to the loo five minutes into every hearing. But hey, I take it all in my (penguin) stride.

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The lovely security guard at Bristol has told me I’m ‘blooming, no really blooming’ (transl: wow you are MASSIVE) fifty times if she’s told me once, my client last week compared me to a skittle, and in certain courts I can’t fit behind the bench without almost toppling backwards into plebs row.

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It won’t be long now. Of course I will keep blogging (in fact I was strangely prolific last time I was on maternity leave), but this is just to say: if you notice a gap in posting don’t go away for ever. I will be back and I expect you lot to be too.

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But for now at least, I am still rolling (quite literally) from one hearing to the next, reassuring all my clients that they are getting two heads for the price of one, and a funny walk to cheer them up.

A Few Home Birth Truths

This entry is more than usually personal, but an article in last week’s Times has touched a nerve and I have found it difficult to respond fully without referring to my own experience – this is one topic which is best approached from a recognition of the myriad of individual experiences rather than generalisation. If you aren’t mad keen on the detail of ladies having babies may I respectfully suggest that you find a different post to read.

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Guidance For Knocked-Up Lady Barristers

According to the much esteemed ‘Counsel’ magazine, The Bar Council is soon to publish a ‘Guidance and best practice document for women planning to take maternity leave’. It goes like this: ‘1. Don’t. 2. In the alternative, don’t come back.’. Fnar.

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But seriously, this is good news, always assuming that the description above is a slip of Tim Dutton QC’s pen rather than an indication that it’s guidance for the women who are going on maternity leave in particular rather than for the Bar in general – generally speaking those of us who are or have been in that situation are relatively clued up – and frankly we just get on with it. It’s the other chaps that might need a bit of guidance on how to make returning to the bar a little more manageable. And after all it’s the bar collectively / chambers that has the equality duty to discharge, not the individual pregnant barrister.

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I’ve no idea what it will say, but I will link to the guidance when it becomes available.