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“A touch”

With so much being pulled apart in the legal services world – or if not being pulled part, being the subject of tabloid abuse, or, perhaps more insulting, soundbite criticism by politicians – it’s not surprising that the mundane issues we deal with day to day are misunderstood or ignored. I can’t correct this through [keep reading...]

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Is the Judiciary Working to Rule?

For the second time in two weeks, “lack of Judicial time” has resulted in a trial being pulled the afternoon before it was due to start. The communication came as a fax. The Civil Courts don’t do email – although they tell you they do. There was no: “Your trial is at risk” telephone call. [keep reading...]

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Your trial is “at risk” – or the Civil Justice system?

Nothing shows with more glaring clarity the true state of the English Civil Justice system than delay. Of course, in the eyes of the media, politicians, and often litigants themselves, not to mention most of the population of Great Britain, it’s the lawyers who are to blame. As a lawyer myself, I venture to suggest [keep reading...]

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Liar! Liar!

He’s an out and out liar! Come on, that’s not appropriate, you’ve gone too far. I’m going to end this conversation. OOH!  SSSSSS!   That hit the spot. Thus went my discussion with my opponent concerning a trial coming up shortly.  A trial that in my judgement – my neck is down there on the block, [keep reading...]

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Moral luck and the evil of cold calling

Why do we care about cold calling? Do we care about cold calling? If we do, what specific aspect of our moral fibre is poisoned by a man with a clipboard? Or someone calling – usually at 8.30 at night – saying their name’s Peter, though they sound terribly unlike anyone called Peter? I’ve been [keep reading...]

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The final Straw – again

Hypocrisy. It’s a powerful word. It has the feel of a silver bullet. A coup de gras. A final kill. You feel good when you use it. He’s such a hypocrite. That’s it. Nothing more is required. The argument is over. But that, surely, is wrong. It’s not okay to stop there, to say, I [keep reading...]

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Sorry, Prime Minister, have you forgotten, you vetoed us

Yesterday was a watershed day. Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away. Yesterday. Yes. Only yesterday – well, yesterday’s yesterday now – it was the day The Prime Minister, The Right Honourable David Cameron MP, inheritor of the mantle of Oliver Cromwell, the Puritan who freed the House of Commons from control by Charles [keep reading...]

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Why the “whiplash” committee needs whipping

There is something ever so slightly comic about the expression “whiplash”. Think of Charlie Boorman whipping himself with a bull whip. F*** f*** f*** was all he could say! I hasten to add this wasn’t pleasure. He just couldn’t get the whip flick right – timed right, that is. Unfortunately for Charlie, each time he [keep reading...]

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“One of those NO WIN NO FEE solicitors”

I’m ashamed. To be held in such contempt. Maybe I should be ashamed. At least, the person who said this would seem to think so. It didn’t appear to occur to him – as he told the story about “one of those NO WIN NO FEE solicitors” – that this could be me. It wasn’t [keep reading...]

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Zatrudnianie i zwalnianie w teraźniejszym świecie

W zeszłym miesiącu pisałem o tym, jak proponowane zmiany w prawie pracy nie były tym, o czym mówił blok konserwatywnych demokratów. W tym miesiącu, mam opowieść, jak obecnie rzekomo korzystniejsze zasady pracownicze mogą być i są ignorowane – w jaki sposób proces zatrudniania i zwalniania naprawdę działa. Wiele firm wzdłuż i wszerz Wielkiej Brytanii kocha [keep reading...]

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