Saturday review…and a few bits…

No-one I know in the obituaries today… so I turn my mind to other matters.
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A quick round up of the blogs… to start: BabyBarista worries about his identity being revealed and dares the anonymous emailer to ‘name that blogger’. Geeklawyer is off the juice and is doing some running. Ruthie will, no doubt, [...]

If you go down to the woods… tonight…

I happened to find myself at the Bollo tonight - to meet a friend. We departed early to talk of many things. I returned to my Staterooms in West London at 10.00 hours… without straying into Iranian waters… to find that one of my posts (Hard core) had attracted an extraordinary number of [...]

Hard core…

Michael K. Brandow is an experienced trial lawyer with more than 16 years experience in Illinois Workers’ Compensation and employer liability matters.
He sure scares me… Website
UPDATE:  It appears that the photograph has been removed from the website as at 10.00 am BST this morning.
And this is also a bit worrying…
“A Swiss man was [...]

Work until you bleed…

“I’m not interested in where you come from, whether your father is a QC or a senior partner at another law firm… if, however your parents are connected with a leading PLC or multi-national, we would like to know that. I’m not interested in where you did your LPC because that course is [...]

Search terms: You have made it when….

You know when you have made it as a blogger when two people in the same day search Google with the following:
“what train shall i get from ealing broadway”
Excellent…

Are you feeling lucky…punk?

Judge Merrett at a hearing in Jackson, Florida whipped out a handgun in court to protect himself after a fight broke out in his courtroom. (Source: The Mirror 28 March)
Apparently, US judges are allowed to take handguns into court. He handed his gun to court staff after bailiffs contained the fight.
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However… it is [...]

Podcast 8: Wine and cricket Podcast at The Bollo

This afternoon I thought I would try something different. I interviewed Ashley, the manager of The Bollo, an excellent gastropub in Chiswick, West London.
We didn’t talk about Law - we talked about the food and wine served at this pub, moved on to discuss the cricket at the ICC World Cup and I [...]

E-numbers…dental surgery and greedy Vice-Chancellors….

I am no longer able to go to The Bollo on Sundays for lunch because the owners have decided they wish to encourage the well heeled young children of Chiswick to bring their hyperventilating parents to the pub to have a ‘Sunday Roast’ - and have, accordingly, banned smoking until the evening. This does not [...]

Quiz nite…and Saturday thoughts…

I am at The Bollo. The England v Kenya cricket game is about to begin. I have a glass of Rioja to my right, Silk Cut to my left and I have just eaten a fiery Penne Arrabiata. All is, thus, good with my simple world today. Although I am not a woman, [...]

Le Blog… critique et revue…

“The thing that’s wrong with the French is that they don’t have a word for entrepreneur”
George W. Bush, President of The United States.
UPDATE… I am grateful to Raymond P Ward, a US lawyer and well known blogger, for pointing out that President Bush did not actually say this… See here - the origin of the [...]

Right to roam…

The ’sneering’* face of George ‘Don’t call me Gideon’ Osborne filled the television screen. He looked over at the Labour benches. There weren’t many Labour MPs in Parliament. The Great Train Robber / The Highwayman / Stalin, whatever you care to call him, wasn’t there… *(A Press report used the [...]

Podcast 7: Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia….

Podcast No 7 and the plan for future podcasts…
The quote by E L Doctorow in the title amused me. I aslo have some empathy with this one: ” You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.” ~Ray Bradbury
Yesterday, I interviewed Dr John Birchall. John came to law as a [...]

Lawyer-2-be: Diversity at the Bar

You may be interested in Lawyer-2-be’s interesting post on diversity at the Bar - particularly in relation to mature students.  Worth a read.

Podcast 6: Toby Davey: Law, wine and fireworks…

Today I interviewed Toby Davey, Barrister at 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square, Immigration judge, wine expert and firework maestro -  about practice at the Bar,  his work as an Immigration Judge and his extra-curricular interests.
Toby gave an interesting insight into the realities faced by intending barristers and , after considering what he most enjoyed about practice [...]

What a piece of work is man!…

“ We’ll know we’ve made it when there are mediocre women in senior positions, as God knows there are enough mediocre men there.”
Mrs Justice Dobbs speaking at the Association of Women Solicitors conference
I enjoyed reading this speech… robust and to the point. I quote: “I am but .6 or.8% of the senior judiciary, [...]

The passenger next to me doesn’t look too well…

It was cold sitting outside the cafe in Chiswick this morning with my espresso, as winter made a quick return, but at least I did not have a dead body sitting at the next table unlike BA First Class passenger “Paul Trinder, 54, who woke at 30,000ft to discover cabin crew strapping the body of [...]

Stumps…

The sad death of Bob Woolmer, Pakistan Cricket Coach at the weekend cast a pall over the extraordinary achievement of Ireland, who won against Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup, and pushed Freddie Flintoff’s bender and drinking antics, which resulted in him being sacked as England Vice-captain, down the list of press priorities.
I am [...]

A hard day…a foreboding of doom?

I had a frustrating day today - So… I am at The Bollo with my laptop, Rioja at hand, to blog about nothing of any importance whatsoever. It is, of course, The Ides of March - and Caesar was assassinated on that day in 44 BC.
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You may have heard the ASDA [...]

Podcast 5: An American lawyer in London…

Today I met Dan Hull, a practising US lawyer, partner at Hull McGuire PC, Attorneys and author of the What About Clients? blog. I interviewed him for Podcast No 5.
Dan’s blog is a mine of information about legal practice in the States, service issues and an eclectic mix of thoughts and ideas. [...]

Just a few things and thoughts…

An amusing story from The Water Cooler in The Times today about a reception held at Inner Temple to mark the 45 year old career of Sir Ivan Lawrence QC. A judge remarking of his career as a Recorder: “Justice had not only to be done and seen to be done [...]