This is only for for those of you who have been reading this blog for some time, but I’m quite pleased to be able to say that Nearly Legal (the person) has finally been admitted to the roll as a solicitor. Everyone else involved in the blog is, of course, already stunningly qualified.
Now, do we change the name of the blog?
Congratulations.
A job well done.
No slacking on the fab blog though!
Hearty Congratulations, Dear Internet Friendie!!
Perhaps you should now call the Blog “The Housing Blog of the Apocalypse” With the strapline ” I spied a pale rider upon a pale horse; the name of the horse was Landlord and Tenant and the name of the rider was NL, Solicitor of the Supreme Court”
Just a thought…….!!
Congratulations….. Change the name of the blog? Surely not…… you have built up a great blog! I don’t normally look at Housing matters – but always read you blog….. better informed now, as the saying goes :-)
Congratulations, NL (Now Legal)!
Congratulations! Newly legal? Completely legal?
Congratulations and good luck with your career as a solicitor!
Yes. I think that the name needs to change. Firstly it does not describe the content. Even worse…when I mention it to people who don’t know about it I usually have to deal with various Kenneth Williams type noises to the effect that it is a porn site. I then explain that it is the leading on line housing law resource site. So how about calling it something like UK Housing Law Resources Site or something like that.
Well done and the very best of luck to you.
I love the name, but then I love Kenneth’s rendition of Green grow my Nadgers, oh!
http://monologues.co.uk/Comic_Songs/Green_Grow.htm
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GylZ1mK934U
You reallyyyyyy want to change the name NL don’t you!! If I say it’s your blog (even with the panel of new contributors) and everyone will still tune in whatever the name, will that help?
p.s. I am still alive, if not slightly dazed!
Thank you all very much.
Minx: “friendie”? Where is your dignity? And, more importantly, where is mine?
On a name change, we’ll see, but, William, it may need to be be a little snappier ;-)
Michael – thank you, I’ve always loved that routine.
Many congratulations, but do keep the name.
As for the Kenneth Williams noises, well if a few perverts stumble on the site, it will not hurt them to learn something.
Seriously though, the caveat implicit in the name probably works better than the formal disclaimer in getting across that this is just a blog, an extremely good one, but just a blog all the same. Adopting a more formal name such as suggested by William Flack would invite whinging from those who would then expect to find the answers to everything.
So Ethan, I take it you’re suggesting:
Really Legal
Not bad.
Good point…I would not want to encourage whinging people expecting an online advice session. I think that it should be possible to make it clear that a resource site does not provide that service. It seems a shame though to have to disguise it in order to avoid such people.
Very many congrats, NL. How does it feel to be really legal?
@Dave – feels much the same, just more expensive for other people… Oh and I get to sign more things.
Congratulations, Mr Newly Legal – well deserved!
Congrats!!! :)
Great news, congratulations! It doesn’t seem so long ago that neither of us was fully legal. I’m sure it can’t be two years since you got your training contract, in fact. I suspect a well deserved dispensation!
PB
Good heavens, how lovely of you all.
@Pupilblogger – You’d be right, there was some time off for good behaviour.
Congrats NL, two years is a bloody long time as I know from experience. Good luck for the future, but I daresay your ability outstrips many other solicitors of more years’ PQE already…
@Usefully Employed: Thank you – but I did get away with a bit less than 2 years, (although not when you figure in 18 months as a paralegal).
Well done you.
I have no idea who you are but your blog has provided a great service to those new and old (I include myself in the latter)in Housing law.
I agree, however, with William Flack. Time to change. Let the name give the message.
All Best
Jan
As Mr Luba is the Chuck Norris of the Housing world he does actually know who you are but if he told you he’d have to kill you :)
This may not make a lot of sense to people who don’t know Chuck Norris created the Universe :)
@Jan Luba: Well, that was unexpected. Thank you for the praise, which means a lot, although it should be directed at the whole team now writing NL.
After a long think and a discussion about whether or not to change the name, I’ve decided to leave it alone, at least for the moment. Granted, if I had had the smallest inkling of what this blog would become when I started it two and a half years ago, this would not have been the name I would have chosen. However, as your comment indicates, the blog is apparently pretty well known in housing law circles under its current identity. It has grown from nothing in a way which baffles me, but that I can only assume includes a fair amount of word of mouth and, if that continues, the current name, at worst, won’t hurt.
Although it is tempting to go for something a little more authoritative as a title, NL isn’t formal. It is written for free by a group of people principally for the fun of it, and commenting is pretty much open to all. To that extent, the current name does give a message. (I might well fiddle with the subtitle, though.)
And could I add, cor and, if I may be so bold, blimey. Jan Luba QC reads my blog.
@house: And thank you for pretty much making my point. It is not often that Legal Action or the Journal of Housing Law characterize anyone as the Chuck Norris of housing law.
UK Housing Law Resources Site – may i just be the last to lambast william and suggest he avoids a career in marketing. a much snappier title would be ‘a blog about housing which does not claim to be authoritative but which may provide a useful if informal resource for those interested in the legal aspects of the subject’.
unless, of course that has already been snapped up…
(i thought morgan freeman created the universe).
oh bugger, nearly forgot: congrats, nl. you are easily the best housing blogger in the whole of the netherlands.
Congratulations on qualifying.
Your website is fantastic.
All the best,
Diggy Patel
Congratulations on qualifying!
“ReallyLegal” would work, but maybe something which does refer to the content would attract more readers – those of us who come here anyway will keep coming, and you’d pick up new people looking for housing and related law as well.
Very many congratulations from me too. Belated I know, but at least I’m not as slow as the SRA!
Hearty and fraternal congratulations! But, going forward, your loyal readership will still be incentivised without any customer-focussed re-imagineering of your brand.
So keep the name, but the rose will still smell as sweet by any other.