Lucky escape for many of Manhattan's lawyers

The news in the last week was still dominated by the terrorist attacks on the US, and tales were starting to emerge of lucky escapes by lawyers in the vicinity of the twin towers.

The area around the World Trade Centre was 'teeming with lawyers when disaster struck', according to The Times (18 September), and UK firms such as Allen & Overy and Freshfields - based in midtown Manhattan - saw the horror unfold from their office windows.

Steven Revell, managing partner of Freshfields' New York office, initially thought a fire had broken out at the centre, but when he realised the truth of the situation, his reaction was an example of lawyerly restraint: there was, according to Mr Revell, 'a very real mood of intense concern'.For Carl Sheldon, managing partner of Allen & Overy's New York office, the first concern was the safety of his own staff.

'We had one lucky escape,' he told the paper.

'As associate was on attachment to Merrill Lynch and he was walking across the plaza between the two buildings when the first plane went in.

He was fortunate to get away with just a bump on the head.'Regular Times contributor James Zirin, a partner at Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, which had a large office in one of the towers, related a more harrowing story, although he was lucky enough not to be at his desk that morning.

'One partner at his desk was thrown to the floor by the force of the impact,' he said.

'He saw the building swaying and debris falling from above.

Some windows were blown out and one partner was almost sucked into oblivion.'My co-workers determined to leave the building via the stairs as we had been trained to do.

The air was filled with smoke and at each landing more joined in the exodus.

Colleagues were carrying one woman in a wheelchair.

The descent took about an hour and a half.'In related stories, The Financial Times (19 September) reported on initiatives to track terrorists' finances.

One mooted proposal is the 'speeding up of implementation of the EU's directive on combating money laundering', this despite 'concerns about the threat to lawyers' client confidentiality'.Following last week's High Court ruling - and ensuing tabloid outrage - that the government was in breach of the Human Rights Act by locking up asylum seekers while their claims were being processed, The Daily Mail ran an article claiming that 'asylum seekers are being offered insurance to cover the cost of their legal fees so they can sue the government if their human rights are abused' (20 September).

The 60 policy has been launched by insurance broker Ultraviolet, which apparently has 'received an unbelievable response', with '4,000 policies already sold'.

Asylum seekers aside, more children and parents alike are 'jumping on the legal bandwagon' and launching lawsuits against their schools or education authorities, according to The Daily Telegraph (19 September).

There has recently been 'a spate of lawsuits on behalf of children who claim that the quality of their life has been diminished by bullies', and some parents have 'hired lawyers to ensure that their children gain access to the school of their choice'.

This 'destructive environment' means that parents who believe their child has underachieved 'are considering suing their school or local authority for failing to fulfil its duty to educate' - all producing an atmosphere 'in which a growing range of educational experiences are shaped by the activities of lawyers, which can not be good for our children's education'.Finally, The Financial Times (24 September) addressed the thorny issue of conflicts of interest, discussing the transatlantic gulf on approaches to the problem, recently the subject of a Law Society consultation paper.

The FT contrasted the European 'relaxed' view to client conflict - where the issue is left to the commercial judgement of the law firm and client concerned - with US rules which 'bar law firms from acting against a client, even on a totally unrelated matter'.

It concluded: 'Hell has no fury like an American client scorned.'Victoria MacCallum