Dumpling in a Hanky

Let me begin by confessing: I am not a law firm lucky charm. I’ve worked for 2 different firms over a period of 18 months, both of which went into administration or merged with another firm, which left me unemployed twice in a short period of time. Unfortunately, my story isn’t unusual: changes in the legal market mean that these sort of events will happen more and more frequently, especially in the mid-sized law firms. My Nostradamus moment now is to predict that most mid-sized firms won’t exist within 5 years, as they get eaten up by the bigger firms, or split down into smaller, niche firms. So if you’re working in a small or mid-sized firm: you’re in a very risky position right now. So what can you do to both plan for the potential experience of having a job that disappears, and to get through it successfully? I’m going to give you some tips on what to do, when, and how to get through this. And I’ll be honest: a lot of this is unpleasant, but you can get through to the other sid...

Land Registration (Scotland) Act 2012 seminar notes TUPE update notes Because my new role means that I'm regularly asked do to legal research, it also means that I need to make sure that my level of general knowledge of a wide range of legal topics is pretty high, and that it stays high. Helpfully, my employer runs in-house training sessions on all sorts of things, for all sorts of departments, and these seminars are also open to a range of staff. That means that my colleagues and I can take the chance to get some excellent information from speakers on relevant topics, both drawn from our own staff and from external experts. I've been learning about land law, employment/company law, and there's some environmental training coming up soon too. These sessions are interesting on multiple levels - it's great for me to be able to have access to the level of professional training that the solicitors have, which helps me get my knowledge up to a higher level, but it...

Scheduled to come into force on 2nd July , the new regulations for the Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010 will move Scottish law firms one step closer to the ABS model currently in place in England and Wales . From 2 July 2012, the Scottish Government will be able to begin accepting applications from those bodies wishing to become approved regulators, presumably the Law Society and other legal professional bodies. Legislation referred to in the Scottish Government press release is linked to below: Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010 (Ancillary Provision) Regulations 2012  (draft) Licensed Legal Services (Specification of Regulated Professions) (Scotland) Regulations 2012   (draft) Licensed Legal Services (Complaints and Compensation Arrangements) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (SSI 2012/153)  Licensed Legal Services (Interests in Licensed Providers) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (SSI 2012/154)  Licensed Legal Services (Maximum Penalty and Interest in respect ...

It’s all change at the moment in Englandshire law firms, and what happens in England no longer stays in England . Alternative Business Structures (ABS) are all the rage, and after a gradual run up period where firms could register interest in the conversion to ABS status (with mainly personal injury firms (PI) and smaller firms doing so, some large businesses such as BT and the Co-operative group being an exception), now they’re actually real – the first three groups to be approved as ABS’ were announced on the 28th March 2012 . Mid tier and larger firms in England seems to be adopting a “wait and see approach”, watching how the smaller, more adaptable firms (and also therefore possibly those who are more hungry for a cash-injection) fare before committing themselves to any tie-ups with investors. The existing large bodies like the Co-operative Group are big enough, and well funded enough to push on and expand their existing legal services in their own direction. The react...

Recently, I was regaling my partner with exciting tales of what thrilling things I'd got up to at work that day, while he listened with eager attention. Well, actually, what he was doing was trying to go to sleep, and I was babbling at him about research problems, but... I was explaining that I was frustrated that I was busy when a research enquiry that had come in, and that when I actually got a chance to do it, I found the answer within a few minutes. "I could have had that result back to the enquirer in minutes, rather than hours, and looked really efficient, since it was so straightforward to find." I was pouting. "Yes, but your enquirer has no idea of the level of skill it took you to find that answer. They asked you because they didn't know how to find it, and you are the expert. Just because you could find it easily doesn't mean it would be as easy for anyone else. And answering too quickly could make it appear that it was an simpler task than it w...

So, it seems we're all finding it difficult to concentrate on reading large amounts of text , and getting more easily distracted from.... oh, shiny thing ! Ahem...yes, so...I suppose the techniques frowned upon by the Oxford History professor in the article may well be naughty to use when trying to study and analyse literature....but in legal research, they're a godsend! Databases may well throw up hundreds or thousands of hits when you search for a specific term. Once you've narrowed it down a bit more, you're still left with dozens of articles and cases to wade through. And nobody's ever claimed that legal language was snappy, or easy to skim. The ability to go into these items and search for a specific word is great: by being able to find words instantly, and get some understanding of their use in the case or article through looking at the context, discarding irrelevant items is a much faster process. I'm not a lawyer: I don't necessarily always understan...

So, I've previously blogged my Library Roots , and added it to the wiki of the Library Routes project (and if you haven't done yours yet, get adding - it's fascinating!). I thought I'd now add info on my Library Route, i.e. how I ended up doing what I do today. Well...it all started off a bit randomly. I'd qualified, and now I needed a job. I was scouring the CILIP Gazette job section, and the library recruitment agencies, and the local authority job sites here in Edinburgh, hoping to find something, anything, that would let me work! But it's not easy, even in the Capital of the country, to find a job when you don't have any official experience. So really, after a couple of months, and with the savings going down fast, I needed a job. I saw a post for a part-time library assistant at a private members society library within the Scottish courts complex at Parliament Square. I had no idea what a librarian would do in a court library, but I got the job, a...

I mean, they've all gone through many years of expensive education, designed to weed out those who're not able to perform to the high levels demanded in the competitive world of the law. In the case of Advocates, Solicitor-Advocates and Barristers, after their initial degree qualification there's even more training involved, again, accepting only the best minds to this higher level of education. And then, once they're out practising in the Big Bad World, they have to be able to assess information presented to them, the accuracy of that information, identify opportunities and threats, and figure out what's really a sensible conclusion to many issues. So...with all that education, knowledge, experience and business skill, just how the hell did this proposal get any further than a 4am late-night-cheese-snack-induced nightmare?!? The Executive Committees of Inner Temple and Middle Temple have agreed to commission a feasibility study to investigate the potential benefit...

I went to look at the news on the JLSS site, and decided I'd agree to take part in the survey - I thought I might be able to give some feedback about the removal of the Library / research area, and why it should be redesigned. After all, it did say "We would greatly appreciate it if you could complete a short survey to help us improve the Journal website. Click here to have your say"... Instead, I got presented with the most random of surveys: Erm...hello? Exactly what has my home ownership status, and my hot beverage choice got to do with the website redesign, and the missing Library usefulness?!? Is someone there taking the pee? Were they scrambling to find a way to fill up SurveyMonkeys default setting of 10 questions, and threw in the tea/coffee option? Come on JLSS, you did an otherwise great redesign of the website (we're ignoring the Library 'thing' for just now), can you please not let it all down at the end with a silly, unfocussed survey?!

The current Big Idea in the legal / library blog world is the Free Legal Web (FLW). Originally mooted by Nick Holmes, the idea is to pull all of the content currently floating about the ether (legal professionals blog posts, Government information etc) into one portal. That in itself is a big enough task, but what doesn't seem to be clear yet is...who is this Free Legal Web for? The people involved so far seem to be legal professionals and IT specialists. The legal professionals will be working out some way of getting the useful materials together, and persuading other legal professionals that giving up their valuable time and work (such as blog postings) for this enterprise will be a worthwhile investment, and will reap them rewards in the end. The IT professionals job will be to write the scripts and programmes that will get everything together in the one place, and working well with all the other bits and pieces. That's all lovely (although it's hard to tell what's...

You turn your back for 5 minutes... Last week, the Law Society of Scotland launched a redesigned website for the Journal of the Law Society of Scotland, with minimal (if any) fanfare. Well, there may well have been a fanfare, but as I'm not a solicitor and so therefore not on their emailing list, I only found out when I went to check up on their news area last week. It doesn't even list it as something of note in their own News area...no press releases to The Firm Magazine , nor Scottish Legal News ...is this some sort of terrible secret, not to be publicised to the world at large? This is how it used to look (Feb 2008 image from Internet Archive): This is how it looks now: It is, however, a bit of a good news / bad news situation. So we'll start cheerfully with The Good News : It's pretty, it's shiny, and looks much more sleek and modern. The JLSS now has blogs, yay! There are links from the homepage to both the Editor's blog, and the Law Society's blog too...

I think that (thanks to the Scottish Legal Newsletter ) I may have found the training course I've been looking for! " An introduction to law in contemporary Scotland " from the Open University looks like it'll cover the basics well enough...it might not go into the further depth I'd like, but it's a pretty good start! This course looks at law making in contemporary Scotland and introduces you to some specific areas of Scots law including the law relating to employment and to children. It considers the role of both the Scottish Parliament and Courts in law making. The course will be of particular interest to anyone who wants an overview of how the legal system in Scotland operates and will provide an excellent beginning to students who want to understand how modern Scotland works.

So, even the Law Society of Scotland is feeling the effects of the downturn in the property market, announcing last week that it was staying put at Drumsheugh Gardens for now. Hell, if I'd have had a spare £5.5 million or so (although in Edinburgh the offers over premium could be 20% or more, adding a hefty chunk to that total), I'd have snapped it up in no time...I'm sure I could easily fill it with clutter in no time! :-)

Sadly, Scotland lost another judge today, Lord Johnston . He was most recently in the news as part of the Nat Fraser appeal panel last month. Lord Macfadyen died only a few months ago, in April. Obviously, the Bench is not a healthy place to be - I certainly wouldn't want to have to cope with the things that those on it have to...

As pointed out a few weeks ago by lo-fi , there's a new Scottish legal blogger...and he's actually a proper, qualified grown-up who knows what he's talking about, unlike me and my random mutterings... Jonathan Mitchell QC , member of the Murray Stable , has revived his online presence with a blog on Scots law and legal practice, with regular informative and helpful posts.

It's illegal to melt down 1 cent / penny and 5 cent / nickel coins in America. And no leaving the country with more than $5 worth of them in your pocket! So, next time you're wandering about America, wondering what sort of things you can destroy with a kiln or a blow torch...step away from the coinage!!

..as I was waffling about back in December , Luke Mitchell's appeal case is based on the belief that coverage of the case, and various reports relating to him, meant it was impossible for him to get a fair trial. I have to agree - I've never seen hysteria at the courts like it, and I think they'd be hard pushed to claim that they could have got an impartial jury!

It was while reading this report about the farcical trial for the Omagh bombings that I realised something worrying. I've unconsciously started to believe that, if someone's put up for trial, they're almost certainly guilty. Because people only get sent for trial if there's enough evidence to make the prosecutors believe they can get a conviction, right? Maybe it's the result of watching too many police / forensics TV dramas, but I've definitely started to pick up a belief in 'guilt proven by fact of trial, regardless of result'. So, seeing the many high profile cases coming up on appeal here in Scotland or abroad ( Kenny Ritchie (yay, finally free soon!), Luke Mitchell, William Beggs and Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi ), I wonder how many of them who were vilified after their trial really were guilty? Or did people just start to think they were guilty as soon as we heard there would be a trial?

Isn’t it amusing that the first prosecution for breaking the English smoking ban would be in a pub called the Happy Scots Bar? Now, that’s just setting a challenge for a Scot to find a Happy English Bar in Scotland and do the same…although the quest might be similar to finding a needle in a haystack, to be honest!

Well, after the fiasco of the Scottish elections in May, I have a lot of sympathy for this lady and her dog Duncan! Wonder who he'd have voted for?