A predictably messy aftermath to the great unified contract signing debacle. The LSC extended the deadline to today at the last moment. Why, so that it could pick up some of the hold outs from Friday, expecting them to be thoroughly demoralised by...
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That could have gone better
Oh dear. The LSC claims an 85% sign up rate to the unified contract. Assuming that this is accurate, this seems to me to fall into the hinterland of bad, but not bad enough to stop the roll-out. In fact, it is pretty much the precise point where...
Aren't Counsel getting younger?
Thanks to the always interesting Lo-fi librarian, I have discovered that DirectgovKids has solved the concerns of both Pupilblog and Lawyer-2-be. Click for bigger.
And now?
So that's that, then. The Law Society takes advice on a last minute injunction to halt the process, but is advised against it. Partners' arms are twisted. Deadline passes, contracts are signed or not. So we'll stagger, somewhat shellshocked, into...
On the brink
Tomorrow, 30 March, is the deadline for signing the Unified Contract, even though the contract itself is actually unfinished. Yesterday, the LSC attempted to turn the screws by sending a letter (PDF) to suppliers which effectively accused the Law...
Conversation -v- Contract
I knew I was tempting fate. I made a comment yesterday on Pupilblogger's post on litigants-in-person. Today came the swift nemesis to my hubris. A day full of new enquries fom what turned out to be l-i-ps. Not that they tell you that at first. Oh...
Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira
Le LSC a la Lanterne (or DCA, or both) continued. Item 1. Fiona Woolf talks sense. Let the heavens shake. It is almost enough to make me apologise for this. Item 2. Other civil firms going public on not signing include: Fisher Meredith and David...
More than reasonable?
Ken Adams of adamsdrafting.com emailed me the other day. I've enjoyed dipping into his site, even though my area has nothing to do with contract drafting and a relatively small amount of contractual interpretation. I like the overlaying of...
More Contract refuseniks?
My, but the emails have been flying around today in the wake of Bindman's public announcement, including Round Robins and emails with lists, admittedly of varying accuracy, of which firms are refusing to sign. Some firms are definitely not signing,...
Age Bar
I read Lawyer-2-be's comments on diversity and age in relation to entry to the Bar with interest. As regular visitors will know, the problems of mature entrants to the legal profession is something of a (self-interested) hobbyhorse of mine....
Legal Aid. It's all kicking off…
In the face of the 30 March deadline for signing the new unified contract, today the opposition got serious. The Law Society instigated Judicial review proceedings. The Pre-Action protocol letter can be read here (pdf). Bloody well done. The...
That was the week that might be…
As we await the Law Society's decision on whether to challenge the new legal aid contracts - apparently due this week, as it must be, given that the contracts have to be signed by 30 March - there are interesting mutterings that some civil legal...