Getting (Non Legal) Help: First Things First

13 January 2012

Work as a legal aid or pro bono lawyer for a while – and you begin to realise there really isn’t much separating you from your clients. To quote the Unwashed Advocate, the only difference between me and my clients is circumstance. It doesn’t take much for a person’s world to be turned on its [...]

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Letter Writing Rules

6 January 2012

During my early legal days, I became embroiled in increasingly snarky correspondence with a respected firm of solicitors. They knew I wasn’t a qualified lawyer at that stage and, I felt, they had taken several opportunities in correspondence to let me know they were dealing with an idiot  – and, by God, I wasn’t going [...]

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Moving Into A New Flat: Do An Inventory

4 January 2012

Have you ever heard of a landlord that did not want to do an inventory? Estate agents who tell you “don’t worry about it”? Consider they may have their own agenda – and this may or may not include them being really relaxed and “liking” you. Your deposit is at stake. How do you show [...]

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Show Me Your Papers

1 January 2012

The biggest favour you can do yourself is to get all the letters from your desk drawer and to get them organised and in a folder or ring binder. The next best thing you can do is to put all the letters in reverse chronological order. That means the oldest letter is at the bottom of [...]

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Your Case Turns On Evidence

31 December 2011

Everyone wants to phone it in these days. Unless you want to get into a he said/she said drama that will make a judge start weeping with boredom, consider adopting the mantra, If it’s not written down, it never happened. Yes, I know there are verbal contracts – and people can write witness statements indicating [...]

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A Contract Makes All The Difference

29 December 2011

2011/03 Mike Monteiro | F*ck You. Pay Me. from San Francisco Creative Mornings on Vimeo. I love this video. It’s a great illustration of how a legal steer can save money – and why contracts are essential – especially if you’re working freelance. Despite the initial f-bombs, this isn’t a Harlan Ellison-esqe rant. It’s about [...]

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Decision Time: Get Advice

28 December 2011

Now that the envelopes are open, you can decide how you’re going to proceed. If, for example, someone says you owe them money, you’ll need to decide whether they’re right or whether you have a dispute. But even simple debt matters can be tricky. For example, the bill may include charges for late payment or [...]

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QASA and Quality Advocacy (QAA Part Deux)

27 December 2011

It’s been a year since that SAHCA conference. Believe me. If you were there, you won’t have forgotten it. On the one hand, we had Government repeating its quality mantra, saying that the public must be protected from rogue (solicitor) advocates – and on the other, Professor Philip Plowden and a chorus of solicitor-advocates banged [...]

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