Nobody’s Empire 

I am loving the latest Belle & Sebastian album from which fabulous track comes.

Three Words 

I will restrain my language and simply call this a shoddy, cynical, petulant act, and as such entirely fitting as the last action of the present Lord Chancellor in this Parliament. So say Nearly Legal regarding the speedily introduced replacement regulations for legally aided JR. And then there is the equally sneaky introduction of a […]

Boooo 

2015 Crime Duty Contracts As you will no doubt be aware the CLSA/LCCSA/TLS appeal of the JR decision regarding the above failed today. The Law Society are apparently seeking to take the matter to the Supreme Court on Monday. The stay imposed on the bid round was also lifted and bidding resumes on Friday with […]

The Sound of Silence 

Just like Simon & Garfunkel, Rodney Warren and I never really split up. We just stopped touring together and pursued our own solo careers. (Stories of “personal tensions” have greatly been exagerated) Last Thursday was, therefore hardly a reunion and it certainly was not “The Concert in Central Park”. That said we had a good […]

Same Old 

Looking at 2 and 3 year old files is fairly standard activity for me. The NAO inspired, retrospective trawl of legal aid firms’ archives, searching for potential cash recoupments, is mainstream LAA activity nowadays. The depths to which they will sink I often allude to here. In general it involves failure properly to apply the […]

Get Low 

Another instant great from the ever wonderful, Stornoway. There is a new album, “Bonxie”, out next month and a tour – do both.

A New Hope 

The bulk of my discussions with clients end with a deeply unsatisfactory sense of resignation; we know we are right, that the LAA are acting both wrongly and unreasonably. Yet despite there no longer being any “relationship” to nurture the reasons to escalate the dispute are outweighed by just letting it go. It is almost […]

Got to Give It Up 

Oh how the legal and musical worlds have collided this week making it impossible not to choose one of the contentious songs. Not that there is any agonising over which one. There was a time, in the early days of JRS, when out of the 6 excellent CDs in the car’s auto-changer I just listened to […]

Rowlocks 

Let’s be clear from the start, as a Law Society accredited CPD provider we have a vested interest in this. Not a significant one nowadays as we pulled away from those long days in hotel suites in favour of the Friday Webinar some time ago. And latterly most punters seem genuinely more interested in the […]

Back in the Long Grass 

Without Ceefax to distract, I have been better able to get on with some work today. This, of course, does not include assistance the now long delayed Duty Contract Bid round which remains halted. We repeat previous advice – especially with regard with the need to progress your SQM/Lexcel accreditation.