Cartoon by Charles Pugsley Fincher J.D. a Texas lawyer and artist
Dear Reader,
My Vapidity Beyond The Call Of Duty award for last week must go to the Westminster, Oxford and Bullingdon Club educated Mr Harry Mount – who even has a whole Wikipedia entry to himself.
I marvelled as I read the nonsense he wrote about the legal aid reforms in his seminal article in The Spectator: Take it from a former barrister: Chris Grayling is right to reform legal aid – “There’s only one problem with Chris Grayling’s legal reforms – they don’t go far enough”
It is fair to say that Mr Mount’s absurd article drew the attention of the lawyers on twitter and elsewhere – derision and ridicule in the main. There is, after all, absolutely no point in getting angry with buffoonery. I particularly enjoyed Simon Myerson QC’s elegant evisceration of the article in the comments section – a must read.
Mr Mount did a pupillage but did not proceed to tenancy. He also writes for The Daily Mail, I understand. Research did not appear to be Mr Mount’s strongpoint in the article according to experienced practitioners who commented on the article.
I did enjoy this: Justice ‘Overrated’, claims Justice Secretary
THIS IS EXCELLENT satire on legal aid reforms (BBC Radio 4 )… John Finnemore (Hat Tip to @taxbod) listen from 11 minutes in…
And on a more serious note, before I go on to lose the plot completely… a bit of serious law content on the Legal Aid Reforms
Obiter J: Some responses to MoJ consultation on Transforming legal aid
theintrigant: Fourth Letter to the Lord Chancellor
That is probably enough serious stuff for the present…onwards and upwards…or downwards, depending on your viewpoint of such matters…
Most UK and US lawyers are fairly measured in their approach to putting themselves forward by way of advertising or using social media as a platform for their views and writings.
NOT so this US lawyer: ADAM REPOSA: Lawyer, Patriot, Champion – You really don’t want to get in his way. A truly astonishing advertisement – available on YouTube. Do have a look if you haven’t seen it already. You will laugh, I am sure. You may bang your head on the table afterwards, though.
It isn’t just the experienced lawyers who want in on the ‘unusual way to practice’. Legal Cheek covered the case of a Freshfields trainee:
THE FRESHFIELDS TRAINEE SELLING INSIDER TRAINING CONTRACT INTERVIEW TIPS FOR £150 A POP
A spokesperson for Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer told Legal Cheek: “We are taking the matter very seriously and have started an investigation.”
Some weeks ago I did a podcast with ex-Tory MP and barrister Jerry Hayes – who was most eloquent and amusing about Grayling’s legal aid reforms. I am pleased to draw your attention to a post he wrote in Legal Cheek: ‘I HEARD A VOICE WHISPER: “WHAT A GHASTLY PORTRAIT OF INSUFFERABLE ARROGANCE” – AND I REALISED HE MEANT ME’
The law just keeps on giving…
RollonFriday reports: “The University (née College) of Law has banned students from using electronic cigarettes in exam rooms after several were spotted puffing away during assessments. Authorities sent the following strongly-worded email to the GDL intake after University spies reported that several nicotine addicts were smoking e-cigs under exam conditions” Read….
RollonFriday notes: A Cambridge University law exam has caused a furore in the national press because of its explicit content.
I can’t really see what the fuss is about. Criminal lawyers have to deal with some very unpleasant issues – the exam question is fairly mild in terms of examples of criminal behaviour? But…hey… it gave RoF a chance to do some ‘Breaking News’ and mock the tabloids – rightly.
Apropos of absolutely nothing… I used to set Contract and Sale of Goods law examinations – marking some, it has to be said, imagining myself with a square of black silk (A Black Cap) on top of my head. I may have had a different life had I been an academic in the field of criminal law or, for that matter, chosen to be a criminal mastermind like Professor Moriarty.
It isn’t all bad news for the legal profession. At least one Tory MP is concerned about assisting the legal profession…
This tweet prompted Mark Lewis, a very experienced media lawyer, to suggest…
Isn’t a threat to sue for libel before anything is published rather menacing? @NadineDorriesMP@mjhsinclair#freespeech#chillingeffect
I had a heavy (and strange) week last week… but I did manage to comment acerbically on the Grayling legal aid reforms…
Right… orf for a walk. No doubt, while I am away, Nicholas Witchell will be standing around outside a London hospital – pointlessly – waiting for some Duke of Edinburgh action so that BBC News can cover it ad nauseam. No doubt, also – my emails will be read by GCHQ…aided and abetted by the United States drone hovering over the River Medway as I write..
I shall return on the morrow with more ‘tales’…
Have a good evening..
Best, as always
Charon
i’m thinking there must be some reason why simon is practising successfully at the bar and the glorious harry mount isn’t. if only i could work it out.
I could forgive Mount quite a lot for having written a book called ‘A Lust for Window Sills’.
Phwoar! As the late Sid James would have said.
But the little bell end has pushed his luck far too far.
ps Who is Mr Sinclair and why might he libel Nadine Dorries?