Family Law

What is your position  and what you do on a day-to-day basis?

I am a children law silk at 29 Bedford Row, who on a day-to-day basis purports to provide high quality advice and representation in children law cases.

How long have you been  in this role and what brought you here?

I have been in practice for 24 years, in silk for 5 years and at 29 Bedford Row for 4 years. I was brought to the Bar by my love of advocacy, by my huge teenage crush on LA Law’s Grace Van Owen and by the refusal of J Walter Thompson to offer me a job.

What are the people  you work for/with like? Any memorable stories?

They are all fantastic, of course. No stories that my senior clerk would allow me to tell.

What is the best and  worst part of the day for you? 

The best is my early morning Costa. The worst is getting in Chelsea, our free-spirited and independently-minded cat, late at night.

What adjectives best  describe you?

I asked my four children and, without threats or bribery, they came up with: funny, supportive, hard-working, generous and, from my eldest two currently grappling with university and A level choices, strategic.

What keeps you  motivated?

A desire for perfection, a fear of failure and the necessity of paying the bills.

Tea or coffee?

Coffee in the morning; tea at ... er ... tea-time.

What would you say to  anyone thinking of a career in your field?

Be a Premier League footballer instead.

What song do you  listen to the most?

By necessity ‘Blue is the Colour’, but only over the August-May period.

How do you enjoy your  time outside of work?

Going to Stamford Bridge and then and at all other times wishing I was Jose Mourinho.

If you could change one thing about the family justice system what would it be and why?

When great football players retire, their shirt numbers get retired too. When Mrs Justice Hogg retires next March, I would retire Court 48. It will never be the same without her.

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As part of this feature we are asking a wide range of people who have links to the court system and family law to respond to the above questions and give us some information about what their role entails. We hope to get a wide cross section of people - to this end, if you would like to contribute please email editor@familylaw.co.uk