Lawfest, a reminder

A little conversation on twitter is brewing around Paul Gilbert's immaculate creation, LawFest. I have floated the possibility of a virtual version. @jezhop has taken up the cudgels if anyone might be interested. I was asked by some, what was Lawfest. Here was my take.  Here is Brian Inkster's comprehensive take. Wringing such praise from …

Holding up the mirror on rulers for unlawfulness?

In-house lawyers for Mirror Group Newspapers have hit the news via Legalfutures for their handling of hacking allegations. Coming many years after the original hacking allegations (many blogs here), the case presents some interesting examples of how long ethical problems can remain dormant before bursting into dangerous life for the accused lawyers but also how …

Smith, the SDT and unenlightened majorities

A second sexual misconduct case from the SDT has hit the news: SRA v Richard Daniel Smith. Mr. Smith was alleged to have “touched Person A’s bottom on more than one occasion in circumstances in which: 1.1.1 the Respondent knew or ought to have known that Person A had given no indication that such conduct …

The Beckwith Case

SRA v Beckwith turned on two allegations said to be breaches of the principles under the SRA Code of Conduct 2011, namely that a solicitor must: act with integrity (principle 2) and behave in a way that maintains the trust the public places in you and in the provision of legal services (principle 6). In …

Cybernetic Contracts

A while back I wrote a post about cybernetic ethics and for some time I have been thinking about cybernetic lawyering. By this I mean lawyering embedded in, responsive to, the social systems it works in, in ways that meaningfully use evidence to improve that social system. And by evidence I mean more than chats …

Can You Ride Tandem? Tackling Female Partner Drop-off in Large Law Firms

Trevor Clark The Financial Times ran an interview this week with two female partners who job share at the global law firm Baker & McKenzie's London office. You can read it here: https://www.ft.com/content/f650bb6a-ca46-11e9-af46-b09e8bfe60c0 .  The FT interview delves a little into the everyday experiences of the two lawyers. It highlights some of the bigger issues and …

секреты:does big law have a Russian problem?

Friday's* Guardian had a really interesting and detailed story on money laundering. It is well worth a few minutes of anyone's time. Professional commitment to money laundering regulation has always been somewhat equivocal. I have heard senior, well-respected lawyers say money laundering reporting requirements had signaled the death-knell of professionalism. But I want to concentrate …

Time for SRA to update warning notice on NDAs

The SRA warning notice was a significant step forward in acknowledging the harm that solicitors can do when they misuse their power and status.* But much has changed since early 2018: knowledge on problematic practices is becoming clearer, as are the roadblocks to progress. The Women’s & Equalities Select Committee reported on the need to clean up the use on …

#Day1Law

Those of you on twitter may have seen me post a plea for thoughts on people's first day at law school #day1law. Over 400 people responded. The responses were fabulous. Stretched across the legal world and well beyond. Contained a good deal of information about teenage drinking in Scotland, and several pleas for some feedback on …

NDAs. The Law Society. Are they telling the truth?

The Law Society and Vice President, David Greene, is denying in today's Times that the Practice Note on NDAs was watered down during its formulation. I have strong reasons to doubt that. They also claim, "Developing guidance requires input and learning from those who have been actively involved in the relevant area of law." These …