Law Humor

Results: Taylor Wessing Trembles

Posted on December 03, 2009
Taylor Wessing joins a number of firms that have posted drops in revenue for the first half of the financial year. The firm generated total fee income of £77m in the first six months of the year compared with around £90m for the same period in 2008-09...

Paralysed Rugby Player Wins Training Contract at Stewarts Law

Posted on December 03, 2009
Anyone complaining about how difficult it is to get a training contract might feel a little humbled by this story. Yesterday the Mail reported that Matt King, 22, succeeded in winning a training contract against considerable odds after he was permanently paralysed playing rugby...

Legal Escape - Eating the Evidence

Posted on December 03, 2009
When faced with an awkward situation with no obvious means of escape, sometimes it pays to stay calm and take things as they come.

£2.5m for Top Linklaters Earner

Posted on December 02, 2009
Whilst it might not stack up much compared to these guys, it’s still pretty solid given the events of last year. Slides Top Earners View more documents from solicitr . According to Legal Week , accounts filed with Companies House last week show that Linklaters’ highest-paid partner took home £2...

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US Lawyer in $1bn Ponzi Scheme Charges

Posted on December 02, 2009
Another week, another Ponzi scheme. And this time it’s another lawyer. Scott Rothstein, a South Florida attorney is facing federal criminal charges that he operated an investment fraud scheme using faked legal settlements. His firm asked federal prosecutors to investigate after as much as $500 million in missing investor funds went missing (Bloomberg )...

Norfolk Solicitor Billed Clients in Pounds and Ounces

Posted on December 02, 2009
There are various ways lawyers have found to rip-off their clients but this one has a particularly neat simplicity to it. Trevor Hobden, 47, was struck off after the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal heard that he charged clients by the weight of their files...

Women Struggle to Hit Heady Heights of Law Firms

Posted on December 01, 2009
It is clear now (it took a couple of decades) that women are equally able when it comes to doing the top jobs in the legal profession. Much has been made in recent years of gender equality and much has been done - 20% of partners in the top 100 are now female...

Firms Keep Belts Tight in Run Up to Christmas

Posted on October 27, 2009
Showing banking contemporaries how to do a bit of restraint… Pinsent Masons, DLA Piper and CMS Cameron McKenna are among a number of firms that have held back or reduced profit distributions this year. Meanwhile Slaughter and May is considering whether or not to pay out its annual firmwide bonus at the end of the [...

?Secretary with Benefits?

Posted on October 27, 2009
It’s well know that online classifieds are not just used for selling cars and advertising spare bedrooms. Even social networking sites have had their ‘innocent’ intentions led astray by those wishing to meet more than friends via broadband...

Legal Dynamite - Facebook Friending with the Boss

Posted on October 27, 2009
When it comes to finding your career mentor and sticking close to them to enhance your prospects, Facebook could provide a useful bit of cement. On the other hand, it could be an unwelcome loss of personal privacy. So what to do when you get that friend request dilemma? Obviously, if you really must [...

Shoosmiths partner causes offence with Guardian joke

Posted on October 26, 2009
In an interview with the Lawyer recently, Shoosmiths’ Head of social housing Andy Ballard joked whilst discussing the expansion of his team: ?Anyone who?s under 50 and reads The Guardian gets brought on.? Two elements of this were deemed offensive by commenters - the ageist bit and the stereotyping of social housing sector employees as Guardian [...

Tears and Tiaras - Law Society Excellence Awards 2009

Posted on October 26, 2009
We had the Lawyer Awards back in June this year and, more recently, the winners of the Law Society’s Excellence Awards 2009 were announced at a prestigious black tie dinner last week. Here are some of the winners: Solicitor of the Year - Private Practice Jason McCue - H20 Law LLP Junior Lawyer of the Year Natasha Catterson ? [...

Mr and Mrs Litigator

Posted on October 26, 2009
From Courtoons

The Week: An unlawful party?

Posted on October 23, 2009
No not the one being had by bankers preparing themselves for their Christmas bonuses but the one that has managed to even overshadow that little controversey (and everything else this week). The BNP’s appearance on Question Time last night caused all sorts of excitement...

Professional indemnity insurers in race discrimination accusations

Posted on October 23, 2009
Many small firms had problems this year with rocketing insurance premiums. Thousands of Britain?s high street solicitors faced crippling increases to the cost of their professional indemnity insurance because of the threat of negligence cases arising from the recession...

Lawyer PA opportunity - CV and pictures please

Posted on October 23, 2009
They are an absolute necessity to see how serious you are. Personal Assistant fo Lawyer (downtown Dallas) Date: 2009-09-28, 11:34AM CDT Reply to: gigs-qwdsr-1396354665@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads? ] Attractive and high-powered Dallas Lawyer looking for a very attractive, sexy and fun female to serve as a Personal Assistant...

New BPP Business School Opens

Posted on October 22, 2009
BPP fans can rejoice. In March Simmons & Simmons brought forward plans to create the first dedicated legal MBA. The course is due to be taught at BPP College of Professional Studies? new City branch which was officially launched this week. BPP?s new City school will be running the bespoke MBA for future Simmons & Simmons [...

The Week: A&O Ranks With Rivals, Redundancies Return - CC, DLA and Even BPP, Addleshaws and Ashurst Release Retention

Posted on July 10, 2009
The last piece of the magic circle jigsaw has fallen into place with the announcement of Allen & Overy’s results. A&O has generated a seven per cent increase in global turnover to £1.091bn for the 2008-09 financial year compared to £1.016bn the previous year...

Hard-Working Lawyers Like a Beer of A Weekend?

Posted on July 10, 2009
Our only justification for putting this up is that it is quite funny. Oh and the police do make an appearance. And it is Friday. Via The Legal Satyricon

Does Anyone Find Nerdy/Geeky Lawyers Sexy?

Posted on July 10, 2009
If so, you might find this chap interesting. Though it seems the frustrating process of dating via classified listings may have brought out the tough guy trapped in this nerd’s body. Doesn’t anyone find nerds/geeks sexy? - 35 (South Mipples) Reply to: pers-zvm9r-1223694638@craigslist...

Redundancy Watch as Results Rock Nabarro Plus Falling Financials at Ashurst and Hammonds

Posted on July 09, 2009
Generally the economic message appears pretty mixed at the moment; green shoots one day, dire forecastst the next. In legal circles the results dribbling out over the last few weeks have provided some surprisingly positive notes particularly following the redundancy bloodbath earlier in the year...

Laying Down The Law: Police Taze Great-Grandma, Zepplin Plot Foiled, Swedish Thieves Have Shocker

Posted on July 09, 2009
It’s always good to know that the law is being enforced vigourously. A 72-year-old great-grandmother is threatening to sue police in Texas after an officer "tased" her with a stun gun. Kathryn Winkfein was pulled over for speeding at 60 mph in a 45-mph zone in her white pick-up while doing her weekly shopping [...

Hyper Health and Safety - Lawyers? Fault

Posted on July 09, 2009
Blame culture, it’s everywhere. If you’re not getting the blame at work you can bet your getting the blame as a lawyer for something. The ambulance-chasing variety seem to have managed to get the whole profession tarred with the compensation culture brush and blamed for nannying health and safety rules...

Results and Retention: Taylor Wessing and SJ Berwin

Posted on July 08, 2009
The profession’s health Indicators are coming in thick and fast at the moment with firms releasing last year’s results and this year’s retention rates. The results have generally painted a tough picture for 2008-09 (with one or two notable exceptions ) but strong retention rates should indicate confidence going forward… Taylor Wessing has announced its [...

Good Cop, Erm? Bad Cop

Posted on July 08, 2009
Get arrested and this happens, you’ll want more than your right to silence…

Prince William Becomes Honorary Barrister

Posted on July 08, 2009
You’ be forgiven for thinking that there are no shortcuts to a legal career but there may be one - become a prince first. Prince William was called to the bar in a ceremony at London’s Middle Temple where he was also called to the Bench, the ancient Inns of Court’s governing body...

Financial Fallout: Shoosmiths? Slashed Profits and Weil Gotshal Slashes Salaries

Posted on July 07, 2009
Shoosmiths has reported a marginal drop in turnover for 2008-09 from £103.4m to £99m, a fall of 4 per cent. Profits per equity partner however have seen a huge drop from £327,000 to £150,000 a plunge of 54%. This is the largest drop to emerge from a top 50 firm so far...

Sell Your Soul

Posted on July 07, 2009
This might be one for you structured finance specialists - how do you structure a deal to sell your soul? In Latvia, the EU nation worst hit by economic crisis, apparently you can. Well it’s not quite selling your soul exactly, more providing your soul as collateral for a loan...

BPP and College of Law Continue to Fight it Out Amidst Recent Mishaps

Posted on July 07, 2009
Even as training contract opportunities diminish, the ranks of wannabe lawyers continue to swell. Research from Sweet & Maxwell found that there had been a 150% increase in the number of applications per training contract vacancy this year. The competition to secure students on courses is being fought hard by course providers...

Results Roundup: Charles Russell, Hill Dickinson, Mishcon de Reya Show Occluded Front and Cost Trimming Continues at Camerons and Travers Smith

Posted on July 06, 2009
Mixed results trickle through again this week… Charles Russell has seen a sight fall in turnover of 3%, down from £71m to £69m but profits per equity partner have been hit much harder, falling from £368,000 to £235,000 in 2008-09, representing a 36%, decline...

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