I have been a busy family lawyer for 26 years acting for clients going through probably the most stressful event of their lives including two tragically lost to suicide.

If you are a family lawyer reading this, it will probably resonate if I say that I have mostly dealt with this with healthy doses of humour and wine. Over time, however, the pressures inevitably creep in; clients, work and career whilst navigating an inherently adversarial legal system. We begin to accept as normal that our sleep is interrupted or that our work lives leech intrusively into our home lives.

Whilst family therapists have long accepted supervision as a mandatory part of practice, this is new to family lawyers. Regular supervision is like a hot bath; a wonderful opportunity to download and off load, gain a fresh, neutral perspective; the chance to assess what’s difficult and how to manage it. Over time, regular sessions often become less about crisis management and more about preventative maintenance. They can become less about the immediate and more a place in which to plan a career, retirement or build the practice you would choose. The sessions go wherever you want or need them to.

I am lucky enough to work in a firm which provides supervision. Having benefitted from it, I wanted to pass that on to others and trained as a supervisor. It has been missing from family law practice for far too long.

I am a family law solicitor, trained mediator and collaborative lawyer. I understand your work life and I understand what a relief it is to have a dedicated time to assess and process it. I very much hope that you will try it too. I work face to face in London or the Cotswolds or on Zoom anywhere.