Family Law Supervision is not the same as the familiar conversations I have held with colleagues between workshops at conferences, or in the office over the proverbial water cooler, comparing battle scars as we swap our family law “war stories” over a coffee. Enjoyable and cathartic though such conversations undoubtedly may be, there is a wholly different quality to the listening I experience in family law supervision, which is powered by curiosity not competition.

It is the experience of feeling listened to so generously in a regular , confidential way which I love the most about my own supervision. Being listened to in supervision enables me to hear more signs of my own needs and those of my clients and their families. Supervision is a place where I am encouraged to notice and trust valuable glimpses of my own insight. Where I get to exercise and flex my capacity to reflect. This can bring new clarity, even as a challenging work situation is unfolding, which is adding new enjoyment to my work alongside my clients.

As your family law supervisor I will aim to support you to notice and reflect, so that when the next tricky situation arises, you may be better at interrupting a potentially unhelpful pattern/way of working, and perhaps to consider a different way. Conversely, you may become better at noticing when and what you are doing well, and less inclined to feel as so many family lawyers do, “not good enough”.
As part of my work supporting lawyers as all stages of their career journeys, I have also mentored student groups and individuals, from aspiring lawyer, to fellow solicitors and barristers, to circuit judge. I currently sit on Resolution’s Dispute Resolution Committee, and on the Education and Training Committee of the International Academy of Collaborative Practitioners.

I am a practicing family law consultant solicitor, and a trained collaborative family lawyer. I have been providing family law supervision since January 2023 to a leading London team across several offices.

In 2023 I also undertook training in trauma-informed legal practice with the Law Society of Scotland, which has raised far higher my awareness of trauma and its impacts for all aspects of family law and the legal workplace: promoting safety for both client and lawyers and our colleagues; mitigating the risks of vicarious trauma; supporting choice and control; fostering safe and trusting lawyer-client and workplace relationships where disclosures of trauma are possible and are responded to appropriately, preventing further harm.

I bring these trauma-informed insights to my work as a family law supervisor, as well as to meeting the tough challenges posed by clients, colleagues and “the other side”; my duties to the court and to the over-riding objectives of the Rules of Court ; an overwhelm of professional and regulatory standards.

I have peer-reviewed vulnerable client training content for The Law Society of England & Wales , and chaired Devon Resolution, having practiced in the South West for 30 years , including 20 years as a partner, with compliance officer responsibilities as COLP, COFA and MLRO.

As part of my work supporting lawyers as all stages of their career journeys, I have also mentored student groups and individuals, from aspiring lawyer, to fellow solicitors and barristers, to circuit judge. I currently sit on Resolution’s Dispute Resolution Committee, and on the Education and Training Committee of the International Academy of Collaborative Practitioners.

I am a proud member of the UK and Ireland LGBT Family Law Institute, and served for seven years on the steering committee of the LGBTQ+ Solicitors Network of The Law Society of England & Wales. I have written content for LawCare and for Resolution about the unique wellbeing challenges, joys and and minority stressors affecting LGBTQ+ lawyers and our modern families.

I mentor circuit judges as part of the Judicial Office Reverse Mentoring scheme, which aims to foster greater understanding in the judiciary of the experience of lawyers from under-represented groups and the barriers they face in the profession at large, as well as to progression in the judiciary. As a mentor, I have gained rare insight into the day to day challenges to judicial wellbeing.

I am hopeful for a future where developing and maintaining professional wellbeing as a “competence” will be recognised across the whole of the justice system, as an active and essential practice for all legal professionals, rather than a passive outcome. As a founder member of the Association of Family Law Supervisors I am very proud to be part of a pioneering team of supervisors bringing to the legal profession the benefits of this clinical model of supervision.