Obiter has received two more entries for the coveted title of ‘fastest lawyer in the land’.

Satpal Singh, a solicitor at Halifax firm John Pickering & Partners, took instructions from a client suffering from the asbestos-related disease mesothelioma. He tells us he then obtained medical records, a medical report, and the Inland Revenue employment history, took witness statements, engaged in pre-action correspondence with the insurers and prepared the case for trial, before settling at over £100,000 – all within an impressive 24 days. That knocks spots off the seven-and-a-half week claim of David Jeffery, an associate at Guernsey firm Collas Day. Can anyone beat that, asks Singh?

As it happens, Kim Griffith at Roger Richards in Paignton, whose firm bears the strap line ‘professional service with a personal touch’, believes she can. She writes to say that some years ago she attended a client at his nursing home, went back to the office to draft his will and returned to the client for him to sign it within half an hour. Less than an hour after that, the client died. ‘Admittedly, he was not in the rudest of health when I visited, hence the haste, but we were all somewhat surprised at the speed with which it went from a will instruction to a probate instruction.’