What a tumult of hoary, institutional scandal has burst upon this country in recent times.
In the bosom of the Mother of Parliaments, the mother of an expenses fraud. At News International, endemic and management-endorsed phone hacking. At the BBC, and elsewhere, cover-up, or at least the turning of an institutional ‘blind eye’, to the worst excesses of moral depravity and exploitation.
"I wish I was a lawyer in a Big City firm...."
The expression ‘Christmas clubbing’ has taken on a sinister new meaning this week as it has been revealed that several of the Big City law firms have outsourced their now annual cull of PUPs (Partners who Under-Perform) to mercenary gangs of Canadian seal clubbers from the Gulf of St Lawrence as a further cost-saving measure.
The opportunistic gangs are being paid handsomely for spiking literally scores of surprised and defenceless PUPs at their desks as they stare wide-eyed into their Inboxes.
Those that do not get clubbed are being noosed in a particularly dark technique known as ‘de-equitising’.
JOIN THE NEWS OF THE WORLD EMPLOYEE ACTION GROUP!
We have recently been contacted by a number of very concerned News of the World employees …or should we say ex-NoTW employees.
Rocked by yesterday’s shocking developments, News of the World employees are now not only acutely concerned for their immediate future, but are also distressed about the potential long term career damage that may suffer by being, as they see it, unjustly tainted by the acts of others.
News of the World employees are angered that they are effectively being scape-goated and punished when they have done no wrong.
I have had a run in with PC World.
They will not replace a faulty computer.
PC World, I note from my internet research today, has been described by others as ‘Like Hell, but with worse customer service.’
I cannot say whether this is true as I have not yet had the pleasure of visiting Hell, but my experience of PC World in Charlton has reduced me to an infernal despair.
It appears from my web research today that I am not alone in my despair. In the hope that it may assist others, here is the text of my letter before action I have crafted to the MD of DSG Retail who own PC World, and, I believe, Currys.
Enough is enough.
I have drafted a new Act of Parliament to save us all from any more imbecility of the part of banks, local authorities, airports and other such organisations who seem to regard our time as theirs to waste.
Administrative lunacy seems to have become a defining national characteristic and its got to stop.
Welcome to the Administrative and Banking Services(Unreasonable Requests and Delays)Act 2010…or ABSURDA 2010 for short.
Time is very precious. Mine is. Yours is. It’s illegal to waste someone’s time with unsolicited mail and spam. So what about absurd telephone loops, crazy administrative requests, unnecessary forms that take hours read and days to complete, inexplicable airport delays, bureaucratic imbecility of Daliesque proportions?
As an experiment, we recently had our Contested Probate Website – Contesting A Will re-designed because the quality of the leads we were getting from our site, whilst prolific, left quite a lot to be desired.
Indeed, the old website was flatteringly described by one of our probate team as ‘tacky’.
There is no doubt whatsoever that following the re-launch last week the quality of the leads this site has generated is hugely improved.
There is a school of thought that web-site design does not matter and that your advertising can be the child of creative chaos and can look like a ‘car crash’ without it affecting your results.
Re-possession of residential property has just got a whole lot faster with our new, fixed fee Accelerated Possession service.
Thats it.
You blinked?
You missed it.
The Law is an App.
At least, trade mark law now is…
Three days ago, we launched our first mobile application for iPhone and Blackberry: NameSearch TM Legal.
If you are reading this on an iPhone or BB, you can download the App free from the above link.
You can also read the review in the AppStore.
NameSearch TM Legal helps you protect your trade marks, business names, product names, logos and brands and is designed as a resource tool for brand consultants, creative agencies, designers, NPD specialists, marketing executives and entrepreneurs.
Yesterday, I was taken by the notion that I should acknowledge my 9000th Twitter follower with a blog-post, whoever he or she …or it …may be.
Serendipitous? Risky? ….Well, yes. After all, it may be a nutter or a liberal, a poker or golf freak or indeed a twitterbot. In all probability it would be.
Nevertheless, the die was cast. The rule was set.
I resolved to blog on follower 9000 whoever he, she or it turned out to be. No tricks. No poetic licence.
It was to be a gesture intended as a thankful celebration of the glorious and provoking arbitrariness of the Twitterverse.
HR Expert, David Thompson, has joined Silverman Sherliker to head up Silverman Sherliker Specialist HR Services, a dedicated HR Specialist service
The service will provide front-line HR advice and resources to complement the legal services offered by the firm’s extremely busy employment team.
Innovative Client Benefit
Senior Employment Partner, Nicholas Lakeland, explains how this innovative step will benefit clients:
“Silverman Sherliker can now provide an integrated and complete HR Service thus assisting clients with practical advice and on site assistance whilst also being able to offer Employment Law advice as and when required. Our HR consultants are available to undertake regular weekly or monthly first-line human resources support on a retained basis or to deal with on one-off projects as may be required. The services are flexible and can readily be tailored tosuit a client’s requirements.”
A question for you:
“Would you sell your right to vote for £750?’
No? I thought not.
Nor would I.
Nor, I suspect would the thousands of British voters who, on Thursday night, had the doors to the Polling Stations slammed in their faces up and down the country, after using best efforts, for most of the day, to exercise their constitutional right to vote.
Their extreme outrage and noble indignation was piteous to behold.
It seems fairly clear that these unfortunate Britons, disenfanchised by administrative incompetence, in more than 14 constituencies and in 8 major cities including, London, Sheffield and Birmingham, do have a legal right to claim compensation.
Volcano alert!
All hands to the pump!
etc, etc ……but can travel businesses suddenly ask their staff to work around the clock to cope with the huge upsurge in business?
As the ash clouds from the Icelandic volcano slowly disperse, the rail, road and sea ferry industries have been working at full steam (pun intended) to take advantage of the extra business. This means that employees are suddenly being asked to work greatly extended hours with inevitable legal implications under current employment law.
Last week, the staff at Blackminster School, Evesham contrived to stage an impromptu hoax killing in a playground full of 10 to 13 year olds.
For some unfathomable reason they thought it would be a formative experience for them.
Without any warning, the poor lambs were obliged to witness a hooded figure run up to Mr Kent, their beloved religious knowledge teacher and gun him down in cold blood before running off.
Mr Kent apparently met his maker most convincingly.
Welcome to the Blawg Review #243 from a sunny, snow-covered London.
Fighting Back: A Festive Meditation for Lawyers
The Physical Unverse tends towards chaos and dissolution …the Moral Universe towards injustice and despair ….the Legal Universe, for surely such a dimension does exist, towards obfuscation, misdirection and delay.
But there is a contrary principle.
…the Light shines in the darkness and the darkness comprehends it not.
So let us declare this contrary principle that it may burn ever brighter and more unquenchable in the minds and hearts of all who practise the Law.