The Barrister Who Set The Template To Warn Off The Kids When Working From Home

It can be tough working at home, especially with boisterous children around, and the key for London Queen’s Counsel Bridget Dolan is to set the rules . . like any good barrister would. And the results have created a Twitter storm of other barristers with their ‘lockdown’ warnings ranging from child-shooting to

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During the coronavirus lockdown, Ms Dolan, a 2015 ‘Lawyer of the Year’ and former forensic psychologist, has hung a stern warning on her ‘office’ door at home to prevent the children entering while working.

The formal note advises said offspring that ‘the thing you see inside this room is not your mother’ and suggests that she’s under strain from responding to a ‘tsunami of emails’.

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Suggesting that she might be roused for a medical emergency, classified as ‘extreme pain or an episode of bleeding that lasts beyond three minutes’, she makes it clear that hunger is not one such scenario.

When the note is tacked on the door, ‘the thing inside’ can ‘perform no parental functions’, it reads.

Tweeting about her directive, Doland said: ‘Day 2 of isolation. Kids coping better than me. Very happy to email anyone who wants it a copy of the essential document I needed to draft this am.’

Barrister Following

The Dolan child-warning memo has since been shared around the legal profession globally, attracting over 8,000 views and similar notes from similarly-stressed QCs who have been able to recount their own variations and suggestions for child-warning aspects to their door notices.

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@EdaleSkyline enquired: ‘Good work. But wondering if you could beef up the bleeding clause. Three minutes isn’t that long really. Most children have quite a lot of blood in them.’

@CiaranMcQuade wished he’d stuck a similar note on his door, recounting: ‘I wish I’d thought of this before my son walked in the room earlier, midway through a cmc, whilst signing Rick Astley’s never gonna give you up. Thankfully the judge laughed.’

@LKMagill wrote: ‘I love it!! Sonny know how parents are doing it. My head is exploding keeping up with work/emails/changing court directives and I only have two dogs to consider!’

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The ongoing humour has been something that has blended with advice about staying safe that has helped keep lawyers and others sane, although Bridget Doland is thinking about that question too, as her recent Tweet suggests.