Dear Reader,
Despite my mild republican sentiments, I am, in fact, a fan of The Queen and I have always enjoyed reports about The Duke of Edinburgh’s more extreme humour. The Duke’s rather surreal and dry humour is well documented.… I always enjoyed this one for spectacular bad taste…
“Do you still throw spears at each other?” Said in 2002 to a Indigenous Australian businessman.
“Ah good, there’s so many over there you feel they breed them just to put in orphanages.” Said while presenting a Duke of Edinburgh Award to a student. When informed that the young man was going to help out in Romania for six months, he asked if the student was going to help the Romanian orphans and was told that he was not.
The Daily Mash reports that David Cameron has been taking advice from The Duke of Edinburgh.
Camerons invites clients to pay what they want for legal work
The Lawyer reports: “CMS Cameron McKenna has launched a marketing campaign to promote its alternative billing structures, which include a ‘pay what you think its worth’ option, to clients.”
I rather enjoyed this from the article comments section….
Radiohead of The Law Firm World | 5-Aug-2010 3:37 pmHi Duncan
I am the CEO of a large Fortune company contemplating a hostile takeover of a major Chinese rival. Our combined market cap is around USD80bn.
Can you handle the M&A work, plus any associated merger filings, and regulatory issues.
I’ll give you a fiver and a bag of revels.
RollonFriday reports: “French court ruling hits law firms
06 August 2010
The major law firms with offices in France may find themselves on the hook for millions, after Allen & Overy was ordered to pay damages to one of its former Paris associates.
As previously reported on RollOnFriday, A&O was taken to court by a capital markets lawyer who’d been given the chop last year. The firm argued that he was self-employed, and as such wasn’t entitled to the huge benefits that accrue under French employment law. However the associate argued that in fact he was a full time employee – and the court has now agreed and ordered A&O to cough up. A spokesman for firm admitted that “the court found in favour of the associate and the matter has now been settled“.
There is always an element of schadenfreude in reading of law firms losing cases of their own…… not, I would have thought, great marketing?
Oh dear….
Watchdog asked to investigate claims Nick Clegg misled parliament
The Guardian reports: “Labour MPs say Clegg covered up information surrounding the £80m loan for Sheffield Forgemasters. The parliamentary standards watchdog has been asked to investigate allegations that Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, misled MPs over the reasons for cancelling an £80m government loan to Sheffield Forgemasters and then tried to cover it up.”
The White Rabbit writes a wonderful mini monograph…
Saturday lunchtime in Birmingham…
Regular readers will know that I read Guido Fawkes fairly regularly – many do, for good reason. Guido has an excellent series going on at the moment *Ed Balls Campaign Diary*. Here is the latest instalment I have found. I am enjoying it.
Well…. August continues to be fairly empty of law, client work etc etc and I am enjoying it. I even enjoyed hiding under the umbrella at the cafe bar in Battersea Square today… moving from table 14 to table 15 to avoid the dramatic rains which lasted half an hour. There was a group of very amusing people under the awning who were there at 12.00 when I arrived for coffee and a glass of vino and still there when I returned at 6.00 for another coffee and a glass… Way to go!
Best, as ever
Charon
There are never many people up when I have breakfast on Saturdays at a cafe near Battersea Bridge. I am always able to get a table outside – possibly because I fall in the door when it opens at 7.30. After an amusing and enjoyable day yesterday, followed by an evening faffing about on twitter and on my blog, I deserved a mild hangover but, this morning, clear as a bell.
Charon QC 