ISSUE 73 - DECEMBER 2007 HEALTH WARNING: This magazine contains comments that may disturb the bar

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Dedicated service One source, one solution means you PAGE 4 PAGE 8 PAGE 17 PAGE 26 can focus on the success of your Ted & Alice Catherine Calder Pupil Power New Year Quiz Tel: 0845 370 3500 business.

Fax: 0845 370 3501 E-mail: [email protected] Superb choice Circulated FREE to Barristers’ Clerks in the United Kingdom www.advantageoss.com Choose from over 30,000 product lines, all available from just one supplier. WWW.CLERKSROOM.COM/MAGAZINE EDITOR’S PAGE

Like lots of “Christmas specials” the December edition was prepared

during the run up to the holiday, so I trust by the time you are reading

this that you have had a great Christmas and are looking forward to a

prosperous New Year. If you believe the government, the press or any

economic forecaster, then we look to be in for a bumpy ride. Time to

“remain seated with your seatbelt firmly fastened!” Bob Moss

ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES TO: [email protected] We have had exactly one year of the “paperless” Clerksroom Magazine, available

EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES TO: as a download version only. Allowing for an average this month, the magazine will [email protected] have been downloaded around 42,200 times during 2007 at an average of just

This edition of the Clerksroom over 3,500 per month. I appreciate your support, and as Terry Wogan would say Magazine has been kindly supported by the following companies: for 2008: “Let’s see if we can make it a record year!”

Advantage Office Supply Systems Ltd Unit 10, Poole Hall Industrial Estate, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire CH66 1ST. Of course, there are not 3,500 bar clerks and practice managers in England and T: 0151 357 3500 F: 0151 356 3459 E: [email protected] Wales, so other professionals must be enjoying the magazine as well. I would like

to hear from any “non-clerks”. Corner House Design & Print Ltd The Old Chapel, Manchester Road, Carrington Village, Manchester M31 4BL T: 0161 777 6000 I have noticed an increase in the number of email and pictures being sent in. I F: 0161 777 6060 E: [email protected] hope this trend increases as I am reliant on you telling me what is going on in the

Clerksroom Magazine is produced under licence by clerking world. If there are any aspiring journalists amongst the clerking fraternity JAR Holdings Limited, 20 Alexander Court, Chester, Cheshire CH3 5AW. 07734 995 902 who fancy writing an article, then don’t just think about it: do it!

1 DECEMBER 2007 ~ ISSUE 73 ARTICLE Referral Review By the Editor

When it comes to work for chambers, bulk is beautiful, are first time claimants and ignorant of what should be

but you are open to a greater risk as there is more to acceptable and what is not. The want the work, so the

lose if things go wrong. This is particularly true of claim introducers call the shots. All the SRA can suggest is to

An innovative Business and People consultancy service for Chambers the PI market. warn the introducers that if they persist in leading solicitors to

Short of time in your Clerks Room? Lack the spare capacity for important issues? breach the regulations, then the SRA would “consider naming • Quality Mark and Bar Mark Compliance consultancy With the notable exception of foreign call centres, outsourcing and shaming” them. You can almost hear the claim farmers • Business Development and Marketing for professionals has taken on an air of respectability in recent quaking in their flash boots. • Human Resource Management/Development years. So for a firm of solicitors to outsource its marketing • Coaching and Mentoring requirement should not be a problem. Nor should it be a matter The research also showed the profound effect referral fees have

• Software Training for clients as to how much a firm pays for its marketing had on the business model as applied to law firms. There is a

• Investors In People consultancy services. That is, until the method of payment for the marketing concentration of cases in the hands of a small number of firms. Project Management – including relocation • services is directly linked to each client. Then it is called a This makes it good for chambers which get in with the relevant Financial Management • “referral fee”, and a whole raft of regulation comes into play. firms, but dangerous if any one or more counsel do not deliver • Interim Management – including relief clerking the service level required. Departments are created almost over

Jackie Maskew is a qualified professional Jonathan Maskew is a qualified professional So no wonder that after 3 years of permitting referral fees the night to handle the volume, but can close down even quicker if coach and a chartered member of the coach with 19 years experience in Clerking SRA are now reviewing the rules and reflecting on their abuse. the work dries up. Chartered Institute of Personnel and a previous member of the IBC The 2 main areas are PI cases and residential conveyancing. Development with 18 years experience in management committee. Chambers Administration and 10 years in The latter is not too expensive at an average of £75 to £125 One firm which was reported to handle 8,500 cases a year Solicitors practices. per client referred, but the PI market has a series of problems consisted of one partner, a management team of 3 and 85

We also offer training and mentoring for key personnel tailored to Chambers’ and to each including the cost. The average is a staggering £600 per case. employees. Quality control must be a nightmare. person’s individual development needs. Presently working with Tony McDaid, Practice Director That represents a large proportion of the profit costs per file.

and Sandra Astbury Office Manager of the countries leading set No.5 Chambers, along with Some want to return to a ban on the payment of Russell Hobbs, Senior Clerk of KCH Chambers in Nottingham, in partnership with Footsteps to A recent public opinion poll revealed that there is widespread fees, but those now prospering want the status quo to allow this innovative scheme of CPD and forward thinking approach to enter Chambers and drive them forward with their “Staff of tomorrow”. ignorance on the part of the general public regarding the be maintained. practice of referral fees. In the PI market most of the claimants T: 07941 478463 E: [email protected] www.footstepsms.co.uk 3 DECEMBER 2007 ~ ISSUE 73 ARTICLE ARTICLE - a problem shared!! Extracts from the Upjohn Lecture By Geoffrey Vos QC Refreshed from a break, Ted & Alice return to solve more of your tricky situations. More from our electronic mailbag... Extracts from the Upjohn Lecture delivered by Geoffrey regime that our new legislation favours. Vos QC: Chairman of the Bar Council 7th December Well, you may imagine that these sentiments made me feel as if

Dear Ted ‘n’ Alice Ted: So just how do they get more blood out of the 2007 on the subject of: “An Accessible Legal Profession I had entered a time warp, and that the position in Continental Last month we went through our annual existing stones? Just ignore them and go about your Working in the Public Interest: Dream or Reality?” Europe was certainly very different from that in the UK. The appraisal and salary review. It all seemed to go business in your usual professional manner. Let others reason for mentioning this story is that it explains, in a way, the well, pretty much like last year. However, I was worry about who is doing or not doing what. a bit surprised when my annual pay rise was To my surprise, at a meeting with the Heads of European Bars course that our professions have taken, and why they have Alice: It does not sound like it is time to get the half what it was the year before. I thought may in Paris last week, I heard a French Bar leader objecting taken them. be everyone was getting less and that complaints procedure out just yet, and remember that vehemently to two concepts which I believe the English Chambers were cutting down on the overheads. appraisal time is often linked to salary review time. Now I discover that most clerks got the same as “Mums the word”. profession takes for granted. The first was the idea that lawyers But, I do not think that my French colleague would disagree last year. I do not understand why I have got provide “legal services”. The second thing he objected to was with me, when I say that, to have a successful legal profession, less. What should I do? Dear Ted ‘n’ Alice the idea that non-lawyers might be involved in making the rules we must command the respect of the public. The chambers Christmas party was a complete Ted: I expect it feels a bit like being sent to Coventry. Is disaster. I am told [I cannot remember anything] that lawyers must follow. His message was that the so-called there more to this than just salary? that I made a complete fool of myself. They say, “independence” of the legal profession would be compromised The greatest problem that the English and Welsh legal that is the other clerks, that I made a pass [that if it were once acknowledged that lawyers did not hold a profession has faced during the span of my professional life has Alice: You have to take it up with whoever did the is the edited description] at one of the junior special and inviolable place in our Society. The public was best been an apparent lack of public confidence in lawyers generally. salary review. If you are still not happy, go up a level. tenants, and he was just as bad as me. Are there likely to be any repercussions? served, he implied, if it trusted that lawyers regulated There has, for a long time, been an underlying perception that

Dear Ted ‘n’ Alice themselves properly, and that they were entirely honest and the legal profession is self-interested and acquisitive. In part, Chambers has got the so called experts coming Ted: Forget it. By the time you read this it will be straightforward. There was no need, he suggested, for this is caused by public and political scepticism about the in next month. They are a bunch of time history. Move on like the rest of us. managers who think they can make us more procedures which allow consumer or business interests to check performance of the professions generally; it takes only a few efficient. Trouble is there are one or two in the Alice: Exactly. It is hardly P45 time and he probably up that that was indeed the case. The new regulatory regime in Enron accountants, or a few pension scheme actuaries, or a Clerksroom who sometimes look busy when wants to forget it ever happened too. May be he cannot England, encapsulated in the , was a doctor like Shipman to taint all the professions. they are not. They have got clever at it and I do remember either. But no doubt his colleagues will fill in not see how the consultants will see through the blanks! Move on to the next conquest. special solution for special English problems, and nobody in their game. Any suggestions? Happy New Year! continental Europe ever need envisage the kind of transparent

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It is true that the popular press often speaks unkindly of barristers were “very intelligent”. About 27% thought lawyers. It concentrates on the amounts the very highest barristers were “trusted and highly regarded”. earners are paid, without balancing these figures against the reality that many lawyers are not well paid by the standards of It is not just this survey that suggests that we would be wrong many comparable professions such as medicine and to think that we are hated as much as we sometimes like to do. accountancy. But we lawyers often take these sleights too Anecdotal evidence too indicates that those that have used hard, and translate them – without a moment’s consideration – lawyers are generally very satisfied with them, and that into the conclusion that we are unpopular with the general perceptions about lawyers generally are rarely considered by public, that our work is not appreciated, and that we are all those using lawyers to apply to their own lawyers. seen to be greedy spongers on Society. In short, we love to repeat the quote from the murderous Dick the Butcher in Henry But a further aspect of reality is the fact that, in England, there

VI part II: “The first thing we do – let’s kill all the lawyers”. are now some 18,000 complaints against solicitors each year,

and that the failure appropriately to deal with this volume of

Our leap of reasoning from popular press to the reality of public complaints (many of which – by the way – are remarkably perception is a gross inaccuracy. So far as the Bar is concerned, trivial) has led to a genuine feeling that lawyers have not a recent survey conducted by Ipsos MORI for the Bar Standards demonstrated their ability to regulate their affairs properly, and

Board established that 96% of the Bar’s clients were satisfied certainly not sufficiently well to give the public confidence that with its services, and a high percentage was very satisfied. their complaints will be expeditiously and appropriately handled

Even 60% of convicted imprisoned prisoners were satisfied with if it is left to the lawyers themselves. Of course, I must mention the barristers that had put them inside. And of the general that this does not apply to complaints made against barristers public using barristers: 71% thought they were “easy to speak that are relatively few in number and rarely upheld. But that is with”; 69% thought they were overall effective, 66% thought the subject of another lecture another day. barristers understood their needs, and over 40% thought

6 DECEMBER 2007 ~ ISSUE 73 ARTICLE What Makes A Director of Client Care and Marketing Tick?

When did you start working in Chambers [and in what capacity]? I started working for chambers nearly 9 years ago in 1999, although I did stop work for two years in 2001 when my twins, James and Isabella, were born and I was otherwise engaged. Originally I was at 11 Old Square and then in 2006 we merged with 11 New Square to form Radcliffe Chambers.

What was wrong with being a ? I enjoyed it at the time and wouldn't totally rule out going back to it one day; I specialised in IP which is one of the more immediately interesting areas of law.

Why the title “Director of Client Care and Marketing”? It's because my brief from chambers is very much client care first and marketing second.

So far what has been your best moment in Chambers? This isn't exactly a moment, and it's going to sound like “Radcliffe Chambers was named Client Service propaganda, but honestly, it has genuinely been Set of the Year at the recent Chambers and exhilarating to see Radcliffe Chambers take off since Partners Bar Awards, so it seemed appropriate to the merger; we have had a string of successes including interview one of the people behind the success. Their client care team is led by a former groundbreaking legal victories, a new silk, independent practising solicitor, Catherine Calder. acclaim from the directories and recognition in terms of She is described as Director of Client Care and industry awards such as the Chambers Bar Awards, the Marketing with a specific brief to meet and STEP Private Client Awards and the Hot 100. consult with clients “in order to develop and There's been lots of good news, and the atmosphere in tailor the service we provide.” chambers is great.

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What has been your worst moment getting beeped. Plus I absolutely cannot get up in Chambers? in the mornings. I hated my first day! It was so different to anywhere I had worked before. I remember resolving to give it Your favourite film? until Christmas and no longer, but luckily things Casablanca and The Godfather of course, like everyone improved quite quickly. else. But to throw in something different I'll say Before Sunrise - Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy meet by chance Who has been the greatest influence on for a single, perfect day in Vienna. your career? There are various people in chambers for whom I have Your favourite music? great respect and from whom I have had great support Another obvious choice - I absolutely love that Mozart - I think it would be a bit sickly (and politically inept!) clarinet concerto (adagio), in fact I want someone to to name them, but they probably know who they are. play it to me when I am dying. My song of the moment Also my father - he loves his job and, even now, I is the Huey from Fun Loving Criminals version of Fly Me consult him all the time about mine. to the Moon, and I still love Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol - I keep waiting to get sick of it but haven't yet. What irritates you the most? At work, my own untidiness - it really is shocking. Do you feel accepted by the clerking team? You'd have to ask them but I really hope so - we work What is the best aspect of the job? very closely together and they are fantastic, as The sense of camaraderie both with people within evidenced by the award. Plus they let me raid their chambers, and with clients and contacts outside who Quality Street supplies in low blood sugar moments. I often get to know very well. Plus I love walking into Lincoln's Inn every morning, it is so beautiful. Do you miss the status of a solicitor? I just haven't found this to be an issue at all. I think it's What is the worst aspect of the job? rather cool to work in chambers! Corporate Identity - Creative Design for Print - Printing Directory sales people ringing up when I am busy especially if they then try to chat away as if we are best So what makes you tick? Promotional Point of Sale - Photography - Packaging Design friends. I'm very brisk with them and then feel guilty I am not sure how to answer this question, but I'd be immediately I hang up. lost without David, my husband; we first got together Large Format Display Material - PR & Copywriting 27 years ago, and I still can't quite believe my luck. Web Design - Illustration What is your best characteristic, work or otherwise? If you had not gone into your present job, This is an impossible question to answer without what would you be doing? sounding appalling. I don't know.... I'm usually in a I'd quite like to be Nigella Lawson but before she good mood. became a caricature. Actually my dream job would be to be the casting director for a good TV drama or to be Do you have any bad habits? a travel journalist like my sister - she seems to have fun. I am not sure if this is a bad habit exactly but I drive like a granny. I can't drive to Waitrose without

11 DECEMBER 2007 ~ ISSUE 73 Guildford Chambers

Require A Junior Clerk Salary £14,000

Guildford Chambers are a busy Common familiar with the Meridian Diary, although Law set, seeking a Junior Clerk with a training may be given. minimum of 2 years experience, to assist with an ever increasing workload, including All applications should be sent to: diary management, assisting with general Amanda White (Senior Clerk), administration of Chambers. Guildford Chambers, Stoke House, Leapale Lane, Guildford, GU1 4LY The successful candidate will ideally have had some previous clerking experience in Closing date for applications: Civil, Family and Criminal work and be 17th January 2008 ARTICLE Legal Knowledge Gill Butchard Principal of Butchard Associates We have brought this feature back for 2008 by popular request. It is always difficult to get the right blend between words and phrases to help Junior Clerks and the more complicated phrases that may be referred to by Counsel. Hopefully there is a little something for everyone. Is obtaining/chasing client feedback a real chore? This month there is nothing in Latin! fixing a date for the next meeting (used in the US Do you lack the time to carry out an Congress to end a session) “US adjournment to a day Actionable certain” is a motion to adjourn a sitting of Congress to effective review – and find out what your When writing or speech or an act could provide the a certain stated day. [Noun] clients really think about your Chambers? grounds for bringing an action against someone. Torts which are actionable per se are torts which are in Admissible themselves sufficient grounds for bringing an action Evidence which a court will admit or will allow to be without the need to prove that damage has been used; the documents were not considered relevant to Gill Butchard of butchardassociates can help you suffered. [Adjective] the case and were therefore not admissible. [Adjective] with any of the following: Actuarial Adjudicate I Co-ordinate your client feedback questionnaire: produce the Calculated by an actuary; “the premiums are worked To give a judgment between two parties in law; to questionnaire, send it to your clients, analyse the responses and out according to actuarial calculations”. Actuarial tables decide a legal problem; to adjudicate a claim; to are lists showing how long people of certain ages are adjudicate in a dispute; magistrates may be paid report back to you likely to live, used to calculate life assurance premiums. expenses when adjudicating “He was adjudicated [Adjective] bankrupt” means he was declared legally bankrupt. I Telephone or visit to selected clients about the service your chambers, [Verb] analyse responses and report back to you Adjournment (a) Act of adjourning; time when a meeting has Adverse I Help chambers implement change in line with the responses received been adjourned; “the adjournment lasted two (a) Contrary or which goes against one party such hours”; “the defendant has applied for an as “adverse possession” which means adjournment.” occupation of property (such as by squatters) Gill could also help you with: (b) Act of ending a sitting of the House of Commons contrary to the rights of the real owner or House of Lords or House of Representatives (b) “Adverse party” means the opponent, the other Supplier review Debt Collection or Senate, which will reconvene on the side (in a court case). Expenditure Analysis/Review Holiday/Sick cover following day. “Adverse witness” is a hostile witness, a witness called by a party, whose evidence goes Management Reports Job Training “Motion for adjournment of the debate” is a motion to unexpectedly against that party and who can adjourn a debate (which has the effect of killing the then be cross-examined by his own side as if he Database Management Procedural review motion being debated) “Motion for the adjournment of were giving evidence for the other side adjective Client Management Business Review the House” is a motion to adjourn a sitting until the following day “Adjournment debate” or “debate on the These definitions are from the “Dictionary of Law: 4th Marketing adjournment” is a debate in the House of Commons on edition” published by A&C Black and priced at £9.99. a motion to adjourn the sitting, used by backbench MPs For more information and to order at a 10% discount, For more info: to raise points of particular interest to themselves visit www.acblack.com/reference. See Gill’s website at www.butchards.co.uk “Adjournment sine die” is an adjournment without Email: [email protected] Tel: 0772 591 1320 www.butchards.co.uk 15 DECEMBER 2007 ~ ISSUE 73 ARTICLE Pupil Power – Choose Your Words Carefully!

Some Chambers may feel they can sit back and wait According to a recent survey by : “only 29% of law for the quality pupil to walk through the door, but students are ruling out any other career”. While law graduates

consider other careers, employers from alternative sectors like even those sets may wonder how applicants for

investment banking and management consultancy are taking a go about their Chambers selection process. mutually accepting stance, valuing them highly for Every year, a real battle for minds rages in recruitment their analytical thinking, communication skills and fairs and milk-rounds across the country and now hard-working attitude. increasingly over the internet.

Yet many career website sections are failing to keep up with the

The Chambers website is the best weapon, according to new developments taking place in this field. Features of the graduate research by Intendance who interviewed 114 final year law recruitment white paper include: students at various universities across the country.

• Analysis of good and bad graduate microsites, with

screenshots to illustrate points The white paper: “How well are your employer credentials

Content checklist presented online?” shows how it is no longer enough to simply • • Quick reference guide to building an supply details of employment opportunities and a corresponding effective microsite application system; future personnel want to be informed about • Analysis of innovative features such as Podcasts and every aspect of working life at an organisation before they take blogs, with links to examples the plunge and apply.

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A second report “What do law students think of legal 6 basic requirements: websites?” covered many areas of career microsite • Academic requirements methodology, and the findings include: • An application timeline • A brief description of Chambers

• Details of work experience schemes • To what extent perceptions of law firms are • An illustration of Chambers’ culture affected by specific elements of a microsite and values like navigation and design • An online application form • Which career section features are most likely

to create a positive impression Downloadable PDF files were more in favour than

• Ways that firms can achieve a level of podcasts and flashy video clips. Out of favour are

differentiation from competitors those “company speak” phrases that roll of the old

• Respondents’ honest opinions on the word production line too easily.

usefulness of new media techniques like

6 of the worst phrases: blogs and Podcasts. • “Client-orientated” • Which ‘company-speak’ terms are • “Work hard / play hard” most disliked. • “Dynamic”

• “Forward-thinking” The survey also asked respondents to comment on, • “Can-do attitude” and name, specific aspects of any law firm websites • “Approachable” that appealed, or deterred them. Most said that it was vital to have easy access to the information So may be it is time to update the language and the they needed. website content.

18 DECEMBER 2007 ~ ISSUE 73 ARTICLE Clerk Search December Update LAWCARE

Does anybody know is: [email protected] The photos last month were of course the Shrubsall LawCare is an advisory and support They offer the opportunity to discuss family, son Will top and father Paul bottom. service to help lawyers, their staff and health issues and problems which are Have you any information which may reveal his or her their immediate families to deal with interfering with, or have the potential to true identity? Will Shrubsall health problems such as depression and interfere with, work performance and/or When using the email address above the writer uses addiction, and related emotional family life – and to seek help in resolving the name “Danny”, but we are not sure if this is his or difficulties. the problem in its early stages. The her real name. Someone in the clerking world must service is free and entirely confidential. know who is having a laugh.

Another photo has arrived which may hold another Helpline: 0800 279 6888 clue. Do you know who it is? If so email in confidence 9 a.m. - 7.30 p.m. weekdays 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. weekends and Bank Holidays to: [email protected]

Paul Shrubsall

20 DECEMBER 2007 ~ ISSUE 73 ARTICLE Something About Life At The Bar Secretarial

Wigs are in late paying firms to order quickly enough, and so few firms end up on the credit withdrawn Solutions So just as the Bar thought it was time to put list. One way to discredit firms would be to their wigs on eBay, the Lord Chief Justice publish their payment shortcoming if a a professional typing service announces that from the 2nd January 2008 complaint to the Legal Complaints Service been solicitor- will be able to wear wigs a preferred option for counsel. in court. We do exactly what it says in the leaflet However The Law Society is now challenging the Legal Our clients agree: This is being brought in by a Practice Direction and Complaints Service's proposals to publish complaints “Geraldin permits solicitors and other advocates to wear wigs in records. It believes that a better way to achieve a e at Secreta Staff Problems? Solutio rial circumstances where they can be worn by members of genuine improvement in client services is to help to ns is marvello ever us - the Bar. According to the President of the Law Society build the capacity of solicitors to respond to complaints, Our team of legal secretaries can: ything has c fin ome back Andrew Holroyd the logic behind this move is that the and to provide public information on firms who handle e - so much reduce staffing costs free up support staff better than the tempin court must appear to be even handed and hear complaints well. g agency. No compla advocates on equal terms. He is quoted as saying: We solve recruitment problems avoid employment issues ints at all.” [solicitors] are delighted that the current unjustified The Law Society has conducted polls and focus groups 3 disadvantage to solicitor-advocates has ended”. to listen to the profession's views on complaint handling. It has also reviewed the approach of a Visit website: The implication is that someone who has until now number of international complaints handling bodies. www.secretarialsolutions.biz "The change over to been able to wear a wig has an advantage. Can this be Secretarial Solutions right? Or is it part of an inferiority complex? If so, surely The results of the poll hold no surprises. 76% of produced excellent results it will take more than a wig to remove the chip from respondents were not in favour of publication. The main Digital Dictation Equipment and the services offered by the inferior shoulder? reason for this objection was a concern that complaints Geraldine Eaton were records could not be published in a way which put the We can supply and set you up with appropriate digital second to none." Professional Tactics information properly into context. What is there to dictation equipment and the necessary software to ensure Edward Hughes, Solicitors understand about a complaint regarding non or late A tactical move was made recently by the new payment of disbursements? compatibility with our equipment. "Geraldine Eaton who Bar Council Chairman when he suggested that created Secretarial solicitor-advocates should be regulated by the It is probably better to sue on a contractual obligation Solutions puts a lot of effort [BSB] rather than the to pay. Confidentiality into providing an Solicitors Regulation Authority [SRA]. We take this very seriously outsourced typing service designed to meet the typing Solicitors clearly think they have got barristers on the We undertake to keep any and all information supplied by the needs of legal offices." run. There are now over 4,000 solicitor-advocates and a client strictly confidential. Southwark Law Centre growing number of solicitors’ firms employing counsel in-house. With the changes due in 2009 to allow legal We do not use information supplied by the client for any gh faxed throu disciplinary partnerships, solicitors could be in danger of purpose other than typing/ transcribing "Manuscripts accurate getting a superiority complex. came back - ." We restrict all such information to those typists who have signed and on time a Confidentiality Agreement Naming and shaming 14 Grays Inn Square

The withdrawal of credit scheme is discredited If you would like a leaflet or to try our services, as it does not have the modern teeth to bring please ring Geraldine direct on 0151 355 4433 22 № 10 The Technology Centre, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, CH65 3EN DECEMBER 2007 ~ ISSUE 73 Tel: 0151 355 4433 Fax: 0151 355 9165 Email: [email protected] ARTICLE What Women Want Men To Know? By The Editor

During a recent discussion with Ted & Alice on the merits of coming from either Venus or Mars, it was pointed out to me by Alice that it was time I got more in touch with my feminine side.

Initially I thought she was referring to my mother’s side of least that is what my wife said when she caught me the family and could not work out what she was on smiling at a passage from chapter 7: Seven myths men about. Alice has criticised my male outlook on life which believe about women and why they are absolutely she claims influences my writing. So she directed me to a wrong”. book entitled “What women want men to know” by Barbara De Angelis, the best selling author of “Secrets Now I am not going to get involved in a debate about Serviced Office Facilities: about men every woman should know”. the rights and wrongs, partly because many of the G 218 Strand offers UK and overseas lawyers the opportunity to issues the book raises are not share resources in a serviced office suite, directly opposite the It is too late for including as a applicable to the workplace, and Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand, London WC2. stocking filler, but Alice says all partly because I do not want to men should read “What women alienate half the readership. G The reception is on the 3rd Floor and staffed 8am - 6pm. want men to know” and it would After all, if the book is right then G Meeting Room available include Single rooms for 1-50 people help male clerks to understand I would seem to be in the wrong up to Mediation Suites. where their female colleagues are just because of my gender. coming from. Or put another way “Who dares cannot win” is a male Accommodation: Some of the language is too racy philosophy about arguing with G Fleet Street apartment available for short term rental to for this magazine and is more women so we might as well let likely to be found in the female it be. Better to debate the professional people when in London. [and some male] glossy magazines football results as they are much G Superbly located studio apartment situated just off Fleet Street. which most read each month. more important. However, on the basis it is never too late to learn I glanced through At this point I decided to get Disaster Recovery Suite: a copy my wife was giving to a some female feedback on this G Suite with 24/7 availability of hot desk PC’s connected female friend for Christmas. I could article and read it to my wife. to the Internet. not help think this was a waste of Needless to say I have got it all a copy as they should surely all be sent to men not wrong and she is going to get me a copy of the book women, but then felt pleased that my wife did not have as that is the only way I am going to understand any male friends she felt obliged to inform about the women. All I can say is that I am still married. book’s contents. No doubt you will make your own mind up should you Contact Us: I concluded that after 32 years of married life without any decide to read the book. Perhaps I had better return to 218 Strand, London, WC2R 1AT time off for good behaviour, there was not much more I poetry next month! T: 0845 083 3000 F: 0845 083 3001 needed to know. But we are never too old to learn, or at DX: 232 London Chancery Lane E: [email protected]

24 DECEMBER 2007 ~ ISSUE 73 www.218strand.com ARTICLE New Year Quiz 2007 The calendar for December 2007 did not make it appropriate for a Quiz to settle down to on Boxing day, so we thought a Quiz for those working between Christmas and New Year would be more suitable, or to act as a gentle “warm down” from the events of New Year’s Eve.

Q1: Which is your favourite of the top 10 New Year Q6: Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the New Year resolutions? for what religion? A Muslim • Lose weight B Christian • Stop smoking C Buddhist • Stick to a budget D Jewish • Save more money • Find a better job Q7: In ancient Egypt what event dictated the timing • Become more organised of New Year's celebrations? • Exercise more A Pharaoh's birthday • Be more patient at work / with others B Flooding of Nile • Eat better C Solar eclipse • Be a better person D Exact alignment of stars with Great Pyramid

Q2: What does Auld Lang Syne mean? Q8: In what famous city does a ball drop to celebrate the New Year? Q3: How many fireworks are set off from the Sydney Harbour Bridge? Q9: Which capital in the world is first to celebrate A 8,000 New Year — Tokyo, Canberra, Wellington or B 80,000 Singapore? C 800,000 Q10: Which blonde TV actress has the same surname Q4: In the ancient Roman calendar when did the new as the Roman God of beginnings? year begin? Answers are on page 29. Q5: What is known as the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival? Happy New Year!

26 DECEMBER 2007 ~ ISSUE 73 ARTICLE Credit Crunch 2008?

By Penelope Ody

[The so called experts predict 2008 is going to be a ail Bags for Chambers difficult year so we looked outside our usual area to The Deloitte survey also points to some notable regional get a shoppers spin on likely events.] differences in planned Christmas spend: from a peak of £848 Personalised Plastic M per person among the Scots to just £571 in the West Midlands I Global “credit crunch”, food prices up 14%, taxation at - which surely says something about the transformation of what Do you send back 20 or more briefs a day? Or record levels, petrol nudging 105p a litre in rural areas, was once our industrial heartland. “January sales” starting in mid-November...it all adds I Does your Chambers get through 100 or so plastic up to a good excuse for the doomsayers to preach Swapping branches for websites will also do little to combat the gloom and despondency this Christmas. decline of many less than affluent shopping areas. We've all mail bags every week? seen these sad remnants - even if only while driving through an Talking to retailers earlier in November, the mood was certainly unfamiliar part of town on the way to somewhere else: I fearful: an anxious watching of the competition to see who's independent stores sorely in need of a coat of paint, rather too Would you like Chambers’ logo and details printed on nerve would break first and start the price cutting. Yet, in Bath - many charity shops, exotic fast food offerings and not a for a music festival in mid-November - the streets were heaving national brand in sight. With such neighbourhood shops it's your plastic mail bags? with shoppers: admittedly most of them appeared to be hardly surprising that the local residents head for the nearest overseas tourists but they were spending nevertheless. "destination shopping centre" to search for Christmas goodies I Interested? or else opt to buy on line, thus driving the location's downward So who is right? Breaking the acquisitive habit will certainly be spiral even further. hard for some. After rather more than 25 years of easy credit, I affluence, and a consumerist lifestyle that demands we buy As far as most shoppers seem concerned, the credit crunch can Send for details. whatever we want whenever we want it, thrift and frugality do clearly wait another year. not come easily. Penelope’s email address is: [email protected] This year's Deloitte Christmas retail survey suggests that the average British shopper is currently expecting to shell out £706 Email to: during Christmas (on gifts, food, drinks and socialising) compared with £662 in 2006 - an increase of 7%. So much for [email protected] the "credit crunch"! The survey was headlined "Shopping online...sees huge lift” and reported that 14% of those questioned said they would be using the Internet for the bulk of their Christmas shopping this year compared with only 7% choosing to buy online last year. A huge lift, certainly, but it still leaves 86% of us heading to the high street.

Not all high streets are equally buoyant, however, and this is where online sales are hitting hardest. As Ian Tomlinson,

Managing Director of Cybertill, pointed out the other day, his Answers to the New Year Quiz are: 6. D Jewish predominantly SME customers are - like all retailers - moving 1. You decide! 7. Flooding of Nile online and many of them are resourcing their Internet operations by closing less profitable outlets. As retailers are 2. Times gone by 8. New York fond of saying, "online is just another branch" and if online is 3. B 80,000 9. Wellington [12 hours more successful than a store in a less affluent district then, of 4. 1st March ahead of GMT.]

course, management effort and attention will focus on where 5. The Chinese New Year 10. Samantha Janus. the profits are.

29 MAILPAC IS THE TRADING NAME OF JAR HOLDINGS LIMITED, № 10 THE TECHNOLOGY CENTRE ELLESMERE PORT CHESHIRE CH65 3EN DECEMBER 2007 ~ ISSUE 73