#LALYAwards #TeamLALY #TributetoMark❤️ @LALYawards @WeAreLAPG @FionaBawdon The simple ❤️ next to Mark’s name was the most beautiful tribute to Mark’s support of legal aid and love of #TeamLALY - thank you so much @LALYawards 🙏🏾 - a loving and poignant tribute Last Friday (5 July) the @LALYawards - #LegalAidOscars -celebrated the tremendous achievements of #LegalAidHeroes -who despite all the structural and financial barriers placed before our clients, and ourselves, commit to #Legalaid in order to ensure #accesstojustice Mark, my late-husband (first time I have ever typed the words late-husband), a non-lawyer who gained an understanding of law through osmosis as a lawyer’s life-partner/spouse, not only supported, but also fully embraced the highs (empowered refugee client) and lows (aged debt, government cuts), of my career as a #legalaidlawyer . We had started dating when I was a second-six pupil in 2001, so he had gained a nuanced and insightful perspective over 22 years of what is a vocation, and one that can be change-making. I always had Mark accompany me to any work-related social event/awards ceremony, as it was always very important for him to know I recognised and was grateful to him for what is my profile/success, my brand, is built on his unwavering love and support, of what had become our shared values, our brand, our team. I had been planning to attending last Friday’s ceremony, for the first time without Mark. This year marked the 10th anniversary of being awarded #LegalAidBarrister at #LALY14 ( a certain #KeirStarmer (now our PM @10DowningStreet) was part of the judging panel that year - I joined him on the judging panel in 2015, and was truly honoured to serve as a #LALYJudge until 2020). In early March, sitting on our sofa at home with Mark sitting next to me whilst I typed a post on X highlighting a donation we both made to the #LegalAidNewcomer award, with a montage of photos/our memories of the LALYs since 2014 - we were looking forward to celebrating in 2024 ten years since my life-changing award. The LALYs serve to inspire future winners. The LALYs are a high point in our year, and Mark loved attending the awards, catching-up with old and new friends, enjoying the canapés and Prosecco the LALY awards are so famous for. I have reposted this montage (including @dogsoflaw ) to this post as the last two images #TeamLALY The Heart of the @LALYawards , beating loudly throughout the year - is #TeamLALY - where the bonds of friendship, love and support has been built with us over the last ten years, invaluable over the past four months ❤️ Since Mark’s passing on 13 March, I have tried my best to attend as many of these big (first in the first year of bereavement ) events as possible. But this has not always been possible, even with the knowledge I am surrounded by love and support. The events I have attended have been very emotional, knowing my soulmate and best friend is not physically at my side,even when I know his spirit is my lead, not my shadow. I have had to reassess my ability to be visible/invisible , even at the last minute, listening to grief. For the LALYs the phenomenal @FionaBawdon had kindly offered to be my chaperone, so there would be a close friend physically beside me. But on Friday afternoon, a few hours prior to the LALYs, I received Mark’s final post-mortem report confirming a natural death and I then knew I needed time to first start informing close family and friends, dealing with a repeat of the shock element of the non-linear grief journey, & start processing the contents of the report.Having waited 16 weeks after an unexpected death I now knew “why” he had died, accepted by the coroner, but I would and not for the first or last time, ask myself the same and differing questions, answers, hypotheticals, and fixate about the “what-ifs ?”. I made the call to Fiona -I was not going to be able to attend the awards. But the simple ❤️ by Mark’s name- #TeamLALY❤️🙏🏾