Gazette 13 January 2014

Handbags and gladrags

Obiter’s lower-brow sister paper the Daily Mail has an unerring eye for accuracy. At least when it comes to identifying branded high-price fashion accessories. ‘Lady barrister clutching £1,100 Mulberry bag among thousands to walk out in protest at plans to slash legal aid budget,’ stormed the front page this week, under the headline ‘The most privileged picket line ever?’

8 January 2004

Vote to allow referral fees

Solicitors will soon be able to pay third parties for introducing new business following a vote by the Law Society council to lift the ban on referral fees – bringing an end to nearly a decade of dispute over the issue.

6 January 1994

Excess expense

We would be more than willing to take on a trainee solicitor if it were not for the minimum salary. A small practice such as ours quite simply cannot realistically afford the costs of a trainee in the current economic climate, and we are sure we are not alone.

11 January 1984

Law Society behaving like the ‘Sinn Féin of the legal profession’

As all readers will know, the House Buyers Bill [removing the monopoly on conveyancing] received a second reading in the House of Commons on 16 December. Austin Mitchell MP, the bill’s proposer, had to ensure that at least 100 MPs voted for the closure of the debate so that a vote could be taken on whether the bill should receive its second reading.

The closure motion was won by 100 votes to 14: apparently the Rt Hon David Steel turned up at the last moment in his overcoat to make the 100 total.

Describing solicitors as the ‘Sinn Féin of the legal profession’ with the Law Society behaving like the ‘provisional wing’, Mr Mitchell suggested that the Society’s role should have been to lead change and not to demonstrate a ‘backwoods, instinctive, negative reaction to change’.

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