Seasons Greetings 

It is our last day in the office with our formal Christmas break starting at tea time today. Andy and I will still be available on the phones. I remains for me to wish every one a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year and I will finish, as promised, with the best Xmas song […]

Media Coverage 

I missed this supportive article earlier in the month. It doesn’t tell us anything we don’t know and neither is it likely to have any impact upon policy making, but every little counts.

Pre-Christmas Madness 

I am wondering if I am in a parallel universe. The PR I am appealing is unbelievably poor, mistakes, misunderstandings and reviewing which is itself well “below competence”. I have a firm facing a savage reduction in SMP not only on the back, one presumes, of entirely unreliable data at the LSC but also palpably […]

After a Cat 3 

Head stuck in a new Peer Review appeal. I have to say that just a couple of files in this does not feel like a Cat 4 “below competence” and frankly these are quite tidy files. One of the more positive elements in the recent BVT consultation is a suggestion that they may reduce the […]

Holidays are Coming 

Will put up the “greatest Christmas song of all time” next week but to get the seasonal spirit going here is this:

Back to the Future (again) 

Having completed my initial reading of these new consultations/pronouncements I don’t feel as if I have been given a clear vision of how things are moving forward. The overall picture of “quality” presented, is one of warmed over remnants from recent years seemingly scraped together to try and present a coherent whole. It does not […]

I’m Dreaming of a.. 

Mail just in from the LSC – Not yet clear if we will get a white Christmas we will however certainly get an Offline one!

Call it What You Will 

I think we cleared up that the last weeks FAVFM announcement applies to civil and not Criminal firms. That said we have been made aware of a further CCA style sample requested of a CDS supplier. Haven’t seen the detail yet however I make an advance prediction that it will be like the others recently […]

Reading as a Cure? 

Here are a couple of items which will be of interest. As long predicted the Preferred Supplier Scheme is no more. We can honour its memory however as an “integrated” element of the continuing Legal Aid “reforms”. After a strange, new (and ultimately unsuccessful) “registration” process on their site I found a link elsewhere to […]

Sick Note 

Suffering from a (non-computer) virus so slow posting here – sorry because I realise that there is loads going on out there. Hopefully back on track soon.