I am not a ‘grinch’ but I am not a great fan of the annual Christmas period. I found it pretty tedious as a child and still do. But, here we are at the start of a new year; an opportunity to repeat mistakes of old and an opportunity to craft a few new ones.
It would appear that French influence in the world is waning?
I have decided to return to riding motorbikes. A car in London isn’t of any value to me and, in any event, I far preferred my motorbikes to the many cars I had in my past. So, I shall sell the Jaguar and buy a Honda Blackbird. (I have had five of these marvellous bikes in the past – always started and not one breakdown.)
***
So…let’s kick off the new year with a look at what Tim Kevan’s marvellous creation Babybarista is up to: Solicitor Advocate
“Jo Worby is one of those rare people in business who is more interested in talking about other people’s success. “ Clare Rodway, of the wonderful Kysen PR firm, writes an excellent blog: The Conversation. Here she interviews Jo Warby
John Bolch continues, pleasingly, to cast a sharp and, at times, caustic eye over matters relating to Family Law. His Saturday Review is well worth a look – with a rather spectacular graphic in the post. The following quote will give you a taste of John’s left field approach to the subject. (He does serious as well, though)… “The only time my wife and I had a simultaneous orgasm was when the judge signed the divorce papers.” ~ Woody Allen
***
This is why Criminal barristers are taking action on Monday 6th January
“In 24 hours time criminal lawyers will be on strike for the first time in history.” #walkout4justice” : Follow @TheCriminalBar on twitter for details.
And for a bit of prognostication from Brian Inkster’s The Time Blawg: Future Law: IT and Legal Practice Predictions for 2014: http://ow.ly/shlhH #LegalIT #LegalTech #futurelaw
Fellow blogger and podcaster, Carl Gardner, writes: Alan Turing: a strain’d quality of irrational and arbitrary mercy
John Flood on his RATs blog continues to analyse the profession:
“In law we live in comparative prehistoric times. Regulation is our protection, our safeguard, to prevent savages from invading our sacred spaces…”
Are We About to See the Arrival of Multidisciplinary Practices?
Simon Myerson QC – always a pleasure to read – pulls no punches in this blog post:
Ahead of Monday’s action (reminder: which I reluctantly support), the MoJ has published an “Ad Hoc Statistical Release”. Its purpose is clearly to prejudice readers, which will include the media, against the Bar. As such it is a disgusting piece of work – a Ministry should not seek to argue a political case against a group of private citizens at all, still less by the use of data obtained in an effort to promote ‘efficiency’. The counter-argument is that everyone is entitled to “the truth”. Alas, that argument cannot properly be deployed in this case because….
Misinformation By Public Bodies
Obiter J in his Law and Lawyers blog asks: New Year’s Eve 2013 (1) – Are Human Rights approaching a knife edge?
“There is no British diplomatic mission in Syria, no latter-day Foley can help any of those facing death and destitution….”
Francis Fitzgibbon QC explains in his blog Nothing Like The Sun: Righteous Among the Nations?
***
And finally – Dan Hull in his WhatAboutClients blog writes:
How to Pick a Fight in a Global Recession.
There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.
–Henry Kissinger, quoted in The New York Times Magazine, June 1, 1969
Answer: You choose fights more carefully–and you go on the offensive only when you must. As Rome discovered too late, protecting every terrain and border is expensive and draining. As business and trial people learn young, butting heads with everyone who has ever done you a disservice, or fighting every point in an oral argument, or an evidentiary or discovery dispute, will not just be expensive and draining. It will defeat you. And it will make you go bonkers.
Back later in the day… hopefully.
BabyBarista’s piece on the Solicitor Advocates leaves me puzzled. Are not solicitors required to undertake more training than barristers in your fine court system? It amuses me to see the wigged ones try their level best to maintain a facade of excellence when in fact most if not all of the solicitors I have come across could do their job but realize that spending all day in court doesn’t actually help their clients. Still, it is predictable.