Now for the latest, and possibly last, instalment in what we can only term the Obiter dicta series of amusing dictation errors. Annest Jones, litigation solicitor at City Legal, tells us of some errors typed by secretaries which we think are all rather more engaging than what was originally intended. There is a ‘trolleyable’ rather than triable issue; the groovy-sounding ‘soul director’ of a company; and a ‘divorce partition’ (rather than petition), which Obiter reckons could catch on in many feuding households. Jones says her favourite – which will no doubt be familiar to many a reader – is the presentation of a ‘sworn Arthur David’.

Solicitor Fiona Hendry recalls being given a very young typist early on in her career as a claimant personal injury lawyer. She was horrified when a letter of instruction sent to her medical expert asked for a ‘medical extermination of the client’ instead of an examination. No doubt the client is ever grateful that the error was spotted. Conveyancer Sue Morton at Everyman Legal recalls a set of estate agent’s particulars for a Cotswold stone cottage featuring an inglenook fireplace with a ‘breast sunner beam’, instead of a bressumer beam. Perhaps the typist was thinking of her next appointment at the solarium. Finally, Jonathan Eastwood relates that, while reading a draft affidavit, he was once surprised to see himself described as a ‘solicitor of the Supreme Court of Jupiter’. Out of this world.

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