The legal great and good were in attendance for yet another successful charity walk — but were there some unwelcome guests?

The rain subsided and the sun shone, as 9,000 legal professionals and students took to the London streets yesterday to raise money for legal advice charities. Here are some of the best bits that social media had to offer.

Rumours that Judge Rinder used a Vespa remain unconfirmed

Judge Rinder @londonlegal #legalwalk with thousands of people out walking to raise money for access to justice pic.twitter.com/ZfYWVyS17A

— Judge Rinder (@JudgeRinderTV) May 18, 2015

Lord Neuberger headed up ‘Team Supreme’

Lord Neuberger leads Team Supreme at start of #legalwalk. @UKSupremeCourt pic.twitter.com/uFyyBEcPUg

— Catherine Baksi (@legalhackette) May 18, 2015

One walker was left star-struck by a dashing Dominic Grieve

I got star struck by Dominic Grieve and I'm not even ashamed #legalwalk2015 #barristerhero pic.twitter.com/SCYmc2u78P

— Adam Porte (@AdamPorte) May 18, 2015

Another participant suggested the proposed Human Rights reforms were barking mad

Legal aid reform is barking mad #LegalWalk #SaveOurHRA pic.twitter.com/DiAOqnME9z

— Liberty (@libertyhq) May 18, 2015

*Lord Chief Justice selfie alert*

With Lord Thomas at #legal walk pic.twitter.com/3gBTfP7Lrf

— Catherine Baksi (@legalhackette) May 18, 2015

And it wouldn’t be the legal walk without Lady Justice

Lady Justice #legalwalk pic.twitter.com/4rDmk6hrFe

— Legal Cheek (@legalcheek) May 18, 2015

Lord Neuberger was later joined by another member of Team Supreme, Lord Dyson

Great turnout for the #legalwalk #legalwalk2015 including Lords Dyson and Neuberger! pic.twitter.com/Yk7eCfjrE0

— Adam Porte (@AdamPorte) May 18, 2015

Meanwhile at the Law Society … a futuristic stilt-walker passes by former president Des Hudson

A photo posted by Rickface Findler (@rick_findler) on May 18, 2015 at 2:35pm PDT

Finally, finish-line gossip circulated that Grayling and Gove were also in attendance

Grayling and Gove attempt to go unnoticed during the #legalwalk pic.twitter.com/WbYIXCjoEq

— Thomas P Connelly (@LegalCheek_Tom) May 18, 2015

Legal Cheek is sponsoring the ‘Funniest photo of the walk’ competition — you can enter your pics here.

You can donate to the London Legal Support Trust — the organisation behind the London Legal Walk — here.

The post ‘Grayling and Gove attempt to go unnoticed’ — the London Legal Walk in pics and tweets appeared first on Legal Cheek.

Could flurry of lay-offs at Hill Dickinson, Capsticks and Plexus Law be the beginning of something?

Legal profession recruitment gurus may be talking up a recovering market — and official figures continue to show a growing solicitors’ profession — but there’s nothing like a spate of redundancy stories to bring lawyers crashing back to earth.

At the end of last week, two top-100 regional law firms demonstrated why anyone with a jot of common sense should be cautious about the words legal profession and recovery.

The Lawyer magazine reported that Liverpool-based Hill Dickinson had kicked off a 30-day redundancy consultation process in advance of handing some 30 insurance department staff their cards.

Reports were not clear on how many of that crop would be lawyers or fee-earners, but the announcement came after 16 solicitors and 26 other fee-earners in the counter fraud team were given glasses of redundo red last year.

Hill Dickinson is ranked at equal 30th in Legal Business’s UK top-100. But the firm’s 2014 revenue was down by £1.2 million to £111.6m compared with the previous year. On average, full equity partners at the practice took home £264,000 in 2014.

Meanwhile, managing partners at London niche health, social care and housing law firm Capsticks were also sharpening the axe. According to partner chat room and weekly online newsletter Roll on Friday, the firm will be sacking 10 of its lawyers.

The Legal Biz league table reckons that Capsticks is keen on maintaining tight equity and as a result it boasted a muscular 2014 PEP figure of £437,000. Sending 10 colleagues to the job centre is at least likely to result in that profit remaining stable.

Economic sand shifting

Several days earlier, The Lawyer reported that another insurance-specialist practice, City of London-based Plexus Law was gearing up to slash 80 roles, 10 of which were likely to be lawyers.

The developments are obviously traumatic for the lawyers and other staff at those three firms directly in the line of fire to lose their jobs. And those practices all focus on specific practice areas that are vulnerable to shifting economic sands.

But wannabe solicitors should also be concerned by the smoke signals the redundancy moves send to the wider market. At the end of last month, Legal Cheek reported on the Law Society’s latest annual statistical report showing the solicitors’ profession had grown by 20% in the last decade.

On its face, that growth sounds encouraging. But on reflection, like booming property prices on the Costa del Sol circa early 2008, it is not difficult to get the feeling that a bubble is going to burst.

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US spooks reveal the al-Qaeda supremo was leafing through LSE-educated solicitor’s book in the hours before he met his end

The London School of Economics is renowned for some big-name graduates — not least the two notable losers in the last general election, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg. Even the prancing Sir Michael Jagger did a couple of years at the Aldwych before dropping out.

But now that branch of London University has perhaps the greatest distinction of all — being the alma mater of Osama Bin Laden’s favourite lawyer.

Not many outside the foreign office will have heard of Anthony Aust (pictured below), but the LSE law graduate was a solicitor with the diplomatic corps for 35 years before retiring in 2002. During that time he did a three-year stint as deputy legal adviser to the UK’s mission to the UN in New York.

But the reason Aust has leapt from obscurity is down to his 2005 tome, “Handbook of International Law”. Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP), the book has been revealed today as having been one of several piled high on the bedside table of the now deceased al-Qaeda chief.

Aust can thank the CIA and doubtless myriad other US intelligence agencies for his new found fame. American spooks yesterday declassified a long list of English language books the special forces team had to push aside before shooting him in a lightning raid on 2 May 2011.

According to the Americans, bin Laden was ploughing through nearly 40 heavyweight books when he was rudely disturbed in his Pakistan hideout by a group of chaps that would later feature in “Zero Dark Thirty”.

Included on the list were “Obama’s Wars”, by Watergate hack Bob Woodward, the “Oxford History of Modern War”, by Charles Townsend and Paul Kennedy’s “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers”.

So Legal Cheek readers can be just as enlightened as bin Laden, we offer the publisher’s summary of Aust’s book. CUP described it as “a clear guide to the subject”, penned “by an expert who both teaches and practises in the field, it focuses on what the law is; how it is created; and how it is applied to solve day-to-day problems. It offers a uniquely practical approach to the subject, giving it relevance and immediacy”.

Cambridge’s marketing team went on to laud the updated edition in 2010 as having “a concise, user-friendly format allowing central principles such as jurisdiction and the law of treaties to be understood. In addition, it explores more specialised topics such as human rights, terrorism and the environment”.

No wonder bin Laden is rumoured to have had a cache of porn videos in the other bedside table — after a few pages of Aust, even the king of Islamic freedom fighters deserved a bit of fun.

Aust himself returned to the LSE to teach international law after retiring from the glamorous life of global diplomacy. He also had teaching gigs at University College, London and the School of Oriental and African Studies and Westminster University.

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Magic circle firm also boosts cash for qualifying solicitors but this time falls short of transatlantic rivals and Slaughter and May

Magic circle firm Linklaters has shot to the top of the English firms trainee solicitor pay table only days after Hogan Lovells had claimed top spot, triggering suggestions of rocketing salary inflation at the top of the UK legal profession.

The global giant with around 2,600 lawyers is also boosting pay rates for newly-qualified solicitors by nearly 5.5% to £68,500.

The £3,500 rise will make Links’ NQs the second highest paid at domestic City firms. It will still fall short of magic circle rivals Slaughter and May and transatlantic giant Hogan Lovells, which in the last few days have whacked up NQ pay to £70,000.

However, Linklaters’ move today means the firm will now outpace another magic circle rival, Canary Wharf denizen Clifford Chance, by a smooth grand.

Linklaters’ NQ wedge will even surpass by £500 the pay scale of counterparts at the London office of US firm Dechert. But Linklaters is still some way behind the next US firm on the ladder, New Yorkers White & Case, which are currently shelling out £72,000 to freshly minted solicitors.

And Links still has a long way to go before challenging the biggest of moneybags US firms in the City. Akin Gump, Davis Polk and Sullivan & Cromwell all chuck £100k at their English NQs.

The Silk Street mob has also flashed some cash at trainees, boosting first-year pay by 5% — or £2,000 — to £42,000.

That move takes Linklaters to the top of the domestic firm pay table — overtaking Hogan Lovells by £1,000, and putting it in amongst the Yanks.

Indeed, Linklaters now matches first-year trainee pay at Dechert, Latham & Watkins and Skadden; However, it still trails Davis Polk and Sullivan & Cromwell at the top of the trainee table by £8,000.

Linklaters went the extra mile today by releasing its enhanced pay scale for lawyers of up to three years’ post-qualification experience.

After clocking up a full year of toiling away at the firm — and presuming they haven’t locked senior partner Robert Elliott in the executive lavatories for a laugh — junior solicitors will move up to £74,000.

At two years PQE, they bag £88,000, and if they are still alive at their third anniversary, they will be rewarded with an annual whack of £98,000 — or just £2k short of where NQs at those three top Yank firms start.

With the Bank of England reporting that the UK slipped into deflation earlier this week for the first time in 55 years, how are firms justifying such large wage increases for lawyers just out of their nappies?

Answer: in Links’ case it doesn’t; instead the firm wheeled out graduate recruitment partner Simon Branigan simply to crow:

“This year, salaries among our NQ level to 3.5 year PQE associates have risen by 7.5% on average.

“Coupled with strong performance-related bonuses — which we pay across all levels — and which for a significant majority have, in percentage terms, been in double figures on a scale that can realistically reach 35% of salary, we believe that our compensation [note the US terminology to illustrate global awareness and perhaps try to attract those bright sparks that otherwise might be tempted by the Square Mile’s Uncle Sam contingent] is extremely competitive and an important factor in attracting and retaining some of the brightest and best talent in the market.”

Let’s face it, anyone capable of working out what Branigan meant by all that deserves a wheelbarrow of cash.

Previously

Hogan Lovells boosts trainee and NQ wedge to join Slaughters at top of English pay table [Legal Cheek]

Slaughter and May leaps to top of magic circle newly-qualified pay pile [Legal Cheek]

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It’s Friday — so brace yourselves for a spot of scatological reporting

In what doubtless recalled one of cinema’s most famous episodes — the campfire scene in Mel Brooks’s 1974 classic Blazing Saddles — a courtroom in the East Midlands was cleared earlier this week owing to a particularly noxious incidence of flatulence.

A report in the Mansfield and Ashfield Chad (formerly Chronicle and Advertiser) newspaper sets out the grim details.

About 10 local citizens were whiling away an afternoon watching justice in action from the public gallery at Mansfield Mags two days ago. Indeed, they were particularly focused on the intricacies of an assault trial, which had moved to the climatic point of sentencing.

Their worships were just about to send the defendant down when … somebody farted. Really loudly, and odoriferously.

And just as with Brooks’s railway gang-masters and their baked beans experience, the breaking of wind caused great mirth. According to the newspaper, so much mirth was triggered by the gaseous expulsion that the magistrates instructed the court usher to clear the public gallery.

Those still with this story will be interested to learn that courtroom farting is by no means as rare as one might imagine. A quick Internet search produces several references, with, bizarrely, some instances actually posted on YouTube.

There is even a fart reference in a YouTube piece relating to US television sensation Judge Judy, suggesting it is only a matter of time before our own Judge Rinder will have to deal with something similar.

And of course, last September, we reported on the horse that actually followed through in a courtroom in Ohio. While back on this side of the Atlantic, at the beginning of the year Legal Cheek had the dignified responsibility of bringing the news of the nasty discovery of feaces smack in the middle of the entrance to a courtroom at Westminster Magistrates.

The post Breaking news (er … wind) — fart clears East Midlands courtroom appeared first on Legal Cheek.

Don’t call the other side a “lying slag” and/or “bitch” and don’t physically “face up” to barristers in court

Nigel Baggaley’s recent career amounts to a superb tutorial in how advocates should not behave in court — and, indeed, generally towards the other side.

A High Court judge has banned the professional McKenzie friend for at least two years from representing anyone — apart from himself — in court owing to Baggaley’s technique of verbally abusing and physically intimidating opponents in court and out.

In a ruling last Friday, President of the Family Division Sir James Munby said Baggaley’s courtroom behaviour amounted to a litany of antics that “undermines the proper and efficient administration of justice and is … behaviour that must be restrained”.

According to the judge, there were many instances of Baggaley’s aggressive behaviour, but highlights included shouting “you fucking lying slag” down the telephone to an opposing woman barrister, as well as calling a chambers’ receptionist a “fucking lying bitch”.

But Baggaley did not contain that approach to telephone conversations. As Sir James pointed out in his ruling, the former nightclub bouncer brought the tricks of his previous trade to court buildings.

The judge asked Baggaley to confirm that on at least one occasion he had “faced up” to an opposing barrister during a hearing at Leicester County Court.

Your basic point … is that, when you got up, you were, to use your own phrase, ‘facing up to him’,” Sir James reminded Baggaley during a summing up of evidence. “In the same sort of way as you would have been if you had been on the door of a club.

Baggaley — who in the past has done time for dishonesty and public order offences — replied that he had faced up “in a controlled manner”.

Sir James acknowledged that Baggaley drew the line at actually clocking opposing lawyers. “… the key thing is you do not touch somebody,” he said before continuing: “…part of the technique, I suspect, is getting into their body space”.

“Yes,” replied Baggaley, confirming that invading body space in a rather imposing and aggressive style was indeed one of his preferred advocacy tactics.

The case will focus attention on the role of McKenzie friends — laypeople that represent others in court, who for whatever reason do not instruct lawyers.

The role was given judicial backing in the 1970 Court of Appeal ruling in McKenzie v McKenzie. And indeed, commentators suggest that the ever-diminishing availability of civil legal aid will trigger a rise in the use of McKenzie friends.

It was pointed out in last week’s High Court case that Baggaley was responsible for two Leicestershire-based organisations, McKenzie Friends 4U and the Diy Law Shop.

Read the decision in full below:

In the matter of NIGEL BAGGALEY (aka Nigel Quinlan)

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Legal Cheek session at Inner Temple featuring a panel of top solicitors and barristers — open to all law students, with free tickets available below

Make no mistake, the elite end of the bar continues to power on, with the leading commercial and public law sets thriving — just look at the astronomical pupillage awards — in a tough business environment that values the low overhead model of the bar.

But outside of that bracket the barristers’ profession is changing. The Coalition’s legal aid cuts, which are expected to be continued — and even accelerated — under the majority Tory government, have contributed to pupillage numbers falling below 400 for the first time in recent memory as criminal and family law chambers take on less graduates.

Accordingly, increasing numbers of law students who would previously have ended up at the bar are at looking at other options.

Evidence of this trend was found in the news this month that applications through the Pupillage Gateway system fell by 9% this year — with just 2,114 hopefuls using the centralised system, down from 2,319 last year.

The solicitors’ profession has taken a post-financial crisis hit too, with training contract numbers having fallen from a 2008 high of 6,303 trainee places to a low of 4,869 in 2011 before recovering slightly to reach 5,001 last year. But even with that fall TCs remain far more numerous than pupillages. And some City firms are now upping their trainee numbers — and increasing trainee pay — again.

On Sunday 21 June at Inner Temple’s student Q&A day we have gathered together a group of big name lawyers to talk about some of the options available to students with an interest in litigation.

Panellists

Tom Leech QC, in-house barrister in the advocacy unit at Herbert Smith Freehills.

Sarwan Singh, former in-house lawyer in law centres and local government, who is now deputy course director of the BPTC at City Law School.

Mark Soundy, M&A partner at Shearman & Sterling.

Angus Duncan, insurance litigation partner at Mayer Brown.

Jeremy Consitt, barrister and solicitor in the employment law team at King & Wood Mallesons.

The event — which is free and includes lunch and an afternoon drinks reception — runs from 10:30am-5pm. Alongside Legal Cheek‘s alternative careers session, there will be a presentation on the becoming-a-barrister process, interview tips and insights into life at the bar. The day is being held at event organiser Inner Temple.

Reserve a place here.

The post Event: Alternatives for wannabe barristers — the City, in-house and academia appeared first on Legal Cheek.

London office of US firm asserts pay supremacy after recent rises by Linklaters and Slaughter and May

The escalating junior lawyer pay war among English law firms has been put into perspective after the London office of US giant Shearman & Sterling upped its trainee salaries to £50,000 and started paying newly qualified (NQ) associates just shy of £90,000.

London trainees at the New York-based firm will now earn £45,000 in their first year and £50,000 in year two, before qualifying on an NQ salary of £88,000.

The rises represent an increase of around 14% for trainees, who previously picked up a mere £39,000-£44,000, and 6% for NQs, who used to scrape by on just £83,000.

Such sums will no doubt have magic circle trainees and rookie lawyers looking on enviously. Last month Slaughter and May raised its NQ pay to £70,000 — a figure matched last week by Hogan Lovells — to make it the leading payer of wet-behind-the-ears solicitors among English-headquartered firms.

Meanwhile, on Friday Linklaters increased its trainee salaries by 5% to between £42,000-£44,000 to seize the magic circle’s trainee pay crown.

But who cares when you have a bunch of US firms’ London offices putting these figures in the shade?

Students of the Legal Cheek Most List will be aware that Shearman & Sterling isn’t even the top paying member of this plucky bunch of Americans. Eight firms pay their London associates more than the £88,000 offered by Shearman, with the top payers — Akin Gump, Davis Polk, Sullivan & Cromwell — all hitting the £100,000 mark. Two of these three also exceed Shearman’s trainee pay.

The problem with US firms? It’s not so much the work — they work you hard, obviously, but then so of course do the magic circle — but the lack of training contracts.

Shearman offers 17 annually — which is quite high for a US firm in London — while pay leaders Akin Gump, Davis Polk, Sullivan & Cromwell hand out just 4-6 each year. By contrast, 110 trainees start at Linklaters’ London office each year.

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Gap emerging as “silver circle” firm’s pay rises fall short of top 10 rivals

City outfit Ashurst has become the latest law firm to raise pay for rookie solicitors, boosting trainee and newly qualified (NQ) remuneration by a relatively minor 3%.

That means first year trainee money at the so-called “silver circle” firm will increase from £39,000 to £40,000, while second year trainees will get £45,000 rather than £44,000. Wedge for NQs nudges up from £63,000 to £65,000.

The relatively small rises leave Ashurst trailing top ten rivals Slaughter and May and Hogan Lovells — which have both recently raised NQ pay to £70,000 and starting trainee salaries to £41,000.

And, as we reported earlier today, all of these firms have been put in the shade by the London office of US giant Shearman & Sterling, which has just upped NQ pay to a whopping £88,000.

That’s more than what Ashurst pays its one and two year qualified associates, who have also been granted pay rises today, meaning they’ll now earn, respectively, £72,000 and £81,000 — up from £69,000 and £77,000.

Only at three year qualified will Ashurst lawyers pull in more money than Shearman NQs — with the London firm upping pay most dramatically at this stage. An 8% rise means that Ashurst’s 3PQEs will be paid £92,000, up from £85,000.

Good going, but — for the record — still less than what NQs get at Akin Gump (£100,000), Davis Polk (£100,000), Sullivan & Cromwell (£100,000), Latham & Watkins (£98,000), Skadden (£98,000), Kirkland & Ellis (£97K), Weil Gotshal & Manges (£95,500) and Cleary Gottlieb (£95,000).

For all the pay information for the top 60 UK law firms, check out the Legal Cheek Firms Most List.

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RPC trainee Sarah Pearson on what it’s like to drop everything and head to St Petersburg for work

Followers of the @LifeinaLawFirm Twitter account — which is operated by RPC’s 40 trainees, without any editorial oversight — were earlier this month informed by second seat trainee Sarah Pearson that she was off to Russia for work at short notice.

Prepping to go to Russia #fridaynightmare #TGIF? #byebyeweekend

— Life in a Law Firm (@LifeinaLawFirm) May 8, 2015

Jetting to St Petersburg in business class at the last minute sounds glamorous, but the reality of getting all the necessary client documents together in time was rather more mundane. That’s Pearson sitting on the floor.

Spot the Trainee #sickfriday #camouflaged pic.twitter.com/Bkhp1lTX3f

— Life in a Law Firm (@LifeinaLawFirm) May 8, 2015

The Legal Cheek Careers team caught up with Pearson upon her return to find out how the trip had gone.

Legal Cheek Careers: How much notice did you get that you were off to Russia?

Sarah Pearson: I found out on Wednesday evening, then I had to rush and get a visa the next day, which was confirmed on Friday. A team of us — an associate, a senior associate, a partner and two barristers — then flew out to St Petersburg on Monday morning. The tweets above, I should add, were written by one of my fellow trainees after I had realised that the excitement of going to Russia was going to be offset by having to come in for a few hours on Saturday and Sunday to prepare for the trip.

Legal Cheek Careers: What work were you doing in Russia?

Pearson: Since I started my litigation seat in March I have been the junior member of a team working on a case for a Russian financial institution client. It has involved me going to Russia twice — once in April and this most recent trip earlier this month — to assist with the interviewing of potential witnesses for a trial that will take place early next year in London.

For me it meant preparing the relevant documents in relation to the witnesses — hence the weekend I had to work in advance of the trip — and then sitting in on the discussions with the witnesses.

Legal Cheek Careers: Did you get much time to see St Petersburg?

Pearson: Much less than if I had been on holiday. But I got out for a run in the mornings before we began work so I managed to see a bit. And in the evenings I got to see some of the city during our journeys between the hotel and the Russian firm’s offices.

#TBT to business tripping in Russia #luckytrainee pic.twitter.com/nSYH7KOgp0

— Life in a Law Firm (@LifeinaLawFirm) May 21, 2015

Legal Cheek Careers: What was the highlight of the trip?

Pearson: Eating together in the evening with the other lawyers. It was good to be able to chat to people a lot more senior than me in a relaxed environment. I really enjoyed that. Flying business class was also nice, although I was working for most of the flight.

Legal Cheek Careers: What was the low point?

Pearson: There was no low point, but it is worth emphasising how business trips are not as glamorous as you might initially think. It was very hard work fitting everything in that we had to do. Some of the interviews were five hours long, and you have to be on the ball throughout. I was conscious that I didn’t want to mess anything up, and knew that I needed to have all the right documents to hand.

Legal Cheek Careers: Have you had any other foreign trips so far during your TC?

Pearson: Before this the most exotic place I had been to was Manchester, where on my first seat in real estate I went to issue proceedings for a judicial review of a planning decision.

Legal Cheek Careers: @LifeInALawFirm can be remarkably off-message for a corporate law firm Twitter account. What’s the deal with it?

Pearson: All trainees are given the username and password. So there are contributions from trainees in London, Bristol and Hong Kong. We’re told to use our common sense about what we tweet, with the only restriction being client confidentiality, which the firm is very strict on.

So, for example, in that photo of me surrounded by documents we were careful to ensure that it was not possible to read any client names on the papers.

Legal Cheek Careers: Do you speak Russian, by the way?

Pearson: Everything was done through an interpreter. But now I can say ‘yes’, ‘no’ and ‘thank you’!

Follow @LifeinaLawFirm

About Legal Cheek Careers posts.

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Charles Russell Speechlys partner celebrates lease enfranchisement through song with cover of ‘Make You Feel My Love’

It can take a while to grasp land law, but once mastered lawyers’ love for the notoriously tricky subject tends to burn strong.

A case in point is Charles Russell Speechlys partner Andrew Slatter, whose passion for leases is such that he has been driven to record a song about them.

‘Enfranchisement Sublime’ is an ode to lease enfranchisement set to the tune of Adele’s ‘Make You Feel My Love’.

It begins:

When your lease is running really short,
Wondrin’ what kind of flat you bought,
That’s the time we can help you through,
…with section 42.

Before continuing:

Right to Manage, ’67 Act claim?
Landlord? Tenant?
We can play your game,
Putting a Collective through?
We do that too.

Reflecting on the track, Slatter told legal blog RollOnFriday that it was “inevitable that the passion and commitment of the firm to Enfranchisement would eventually find its expression in song”.

He went on to reveal that the number was penned “late at night on a deserted wet and windswept platform, just out of the office and the drafting of a particularly challenging Section 42 Notice”.

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Prince Harry’s ex makes next move after quitting magic circle

Since Chelsy Davy left City practice last autumn amid suggestions that she found it too boring gossip has raged about what her next move might be.

In-house lawyer at one of the jazzier clients of her old employer, Allen & Overy? A move to a smaller firm back in her exciting native Zimbabwe? A return to Leeds, where she did an LLM, with a local provider of legal services offering more responsibility than typically trusted to City worker bees? Or an exit from law altogether?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given Davy’s array of aristo contacts picked up during the Harry years, she appears to have plumped for the latter option, with a little help from triple barrelled-surnamed pal Jacobi Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe.

Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe is the co-founder of Housekeeping, a DJ and producer collective that exists “with the sole goal of creating hedonistic vibes globally”. And earlier this month its Instagram account posted this photo of a blonde woman wearing a cap embroidered with the Housekeeping logo, with the caption “Housekeeping represent @chelsydavy”.

Housekeeping represent @chelsydavy @housekeepingldn #housekeepingldn #party #deephouse #techhouse #cannes #cannesfilmfestival

A photo posted by DEEP, TECH & TECHNO (@housekeepingldn) on May 14, 2015 at 8:03am PDT

According to the Daily Mail this morning, Davy, 29, “stepped behind the decks at the Blue Marlin beach resort in Ibiza with Housekeeping” on Saturday having previously played with the group at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this month.

Legal Cheek has had a dig around on Google and unearthed a “Chelsy Davy” SoundCloud account featuring a host of tracks by Housekeeping DJs that were re-posted in February last year (one of which is embedded below). This suggests that the former solicitor may have been getting into the music scene during her final City law days.

Davy joined A&O in 2011 after completing the Legal Practice Course at what is now the University of Law. Prior to that she did a masters at Leeds University having graduated with an economics degree from the University of Cape Town in 2006. She also undertook a paralegal stint at blue blood solicitors’ firm to the royals, Lincoln’s Inn Fields-based Farrer & Co.

Previously:

Chelsy Davy waves good-bye to Allen & Overy — and the law? [Legal Cheek]

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‘Dimitri Finds Out’ meme: the corporate law version

Legal news has been dominated by money in recent weeks, with firms across the City upping trainee and newly-qualified (NQ) pay to what some believe is an eye-watering level.

With big money being thrown at the top City talent, wannabe lawyers with magic circle aspirations will no doubt be rubbing their hands in delight.

None more so than City lawyer-to-be Dimitri (of the ‘Dimitri Finds Out’ meme fame).

Since first appearing on Russian TV in 2008, versions of this energetic interview have swept the internet with alternative subtitles created by fans. Step forward the IT bods at Legal Cheek with … ‘Dimitri finds out about City law firm pay rises’.

And it’s no surprise our Russian City-lawyer-to-be is happy.

Both Slaughter and May and Hogan Lovells have raised NQ pay to £70,000 over the past month. Trainees at these firms also got a raise, meaning they will walk away with a cool £41,000 fresh out of the LPC.

Meanwhile, last Friday Linklaters — who offer 110 training contracts a year — went £1,000 better and upped their first year trainee pay to a staggering £42,000.

Despite the hikes, US firms still rule the City roost. On Wednesday Shearman & Sterling announced NQs would receive on a whopping £88,000 (up from an already spectacular £83,000) while trainees would get a magic circle-busting £45,000.

With further salary increases anticipated across the City, expect more ‘Dimitris’ to be hitting London’s nightclubs in celebration.

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Mental Capacity Act specialist ramps up the comedy and dispels the boring Chancery lawyer stereotype

Barrister Barbara Rich will soon be parading around legal London kitted out in a highly coveted “Lord Denning is my homeboy” t-shirt after winning the top prize for the Legal Cheek-sponsored funniest photo competition from last month’s Legal Walk around the capital.

In the winning shot, members of team Chancery Bar are beaming from seated positions and holding a sign that commands: please do not sit on these steps. The caption reads: “Members of the Chancery Bar team upholding the rule of law.”

Now that’s comedy.

The contentious trusts specialist is based at Lincoln’s Inn Chambers 5 Stone Buildings and also edits the Elder Law Journal (which contrary to initial assumptions, is not the same publication as the Daily Telegraph).

Her practice particularly focuses on Mental Capacity Act 2005 cases as well as wider Chancery work.

The common view of the Chancery bar is that it is populated by crusty barristers, spending days on end hunched over dusty old law reports from centuries past and drafting tediously long opinions on the meaning of trust law and taxation.

Does Rich’s sharp sense of humour dispel the Chancery lawyer stereotype — or is she merely an outlier? Rich’s photo could be evidence that Chancery lawyers really do have a personalities. Then again, maybe it just demonstrates a keenness to flout Inns of Court rules.

Other photo contest winners from the charity walk included:

Thomas Chappatte, an associate in the energy and infrastructure department at magic circle law firm Linklaters: best view of the walk.

Norton Rose Fullbright: best team picture.

Thomas Chappatte (clearly a budding snapper) and Emma Finch of the campaigning group Liberty: joint winners for best animal photo (Chappatte squeezed off a shot of swan, and Finch captured the immortal image of a dog in a t-shirt, although sadly not one of a Legal Cheek vintage).

Previously:

‘Grayling and Gove attempt to go unnoticed’ — the London Legal Walk in pics and tweets [Legal Cheek]

The post Barrister wins charity walk photo contest with shot of lawyers breaking rules appeared first on Legal Cheek.

For an alternative insight into the whirlwind lives of lawyers at the junior end of the British legal profession look no further than these Instagram and Twitter accounts

1. Krishna Omkar, associate at Slaughter and May

Slaughter and May‘s Krishna Omkar spends his time embracing business law and effortlessly attending global meetings. Yet the London-based M&A solicitor still manages to get some time to soak up the sunshine beside scenic landscapes.

About the #weekend part two. #virginia #VA #marshall #fauquier #us #usa #sun #sunshine #spring #summer #pool #swimmingpool #swimming #blue #green #instatravel #instagood #orlebarbrown #OBSAROUNDTHEWORLD

A photo posted by Krishna Omkar (@algernonmoncrieff) on Apr 22, 2015 at 5:10am PDT

2. Kevin Winters, trainee-to-be at Shepherd and Wedderburn

Fashion guru and global jet-setter. Kevin Winters, who will soon start a training contract at leading Edinburgh firm Shepherd and Wedderburn, has a profound appreciation for cashmere and evenings out anywhere from Monaco to Hong Kong. Turtleneck. Elegance.

I have just finished my last day in #Monaco with a wonderful evening at #HotelHermitage. Beautiful environment! pic.twitter.com/YUkqhjBnlG

— Kevin J. Winters (@KevinJWinters) March 27, 2015

3. Annabelle Gauberti, founding partner of Crefovi

Chic and creative. Having gained experience at firms including DLA Piper, Latham & Watkins and Clifford Chance, Annabelle Gauberti founded Crefovi in 2012 as an entertainment and media firm for the creative industries. And she certainly enjoys the associated perks. Her Instagram account includes photos of her hobnobbing with the fashionable elite and chasing the sunset in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.

Jean-Paul and I @ @galerieslafayette galerie des Galeries. Epic evening!

A photo posted by Crefovi (@crefovi) on Jan 29, 2014 at 11:43am PST

4. Helen Compton, barrister at 7 Bedford Row

Law meets hipster. Helen Compton has an impressive line of work spanning everything from crime to public law. Her Instagram account does not disappoint.

Update 11:37am: Since publication of this article, this photo has been removed from public viewing on Instagram by the account owner.

A photo posted by Helen Compton (@hkcompton) on Apr 2, 2015 at 4:34am PDT

5. Adam Baldwin, associate at Slaughter and May

Tuxedos and intellectual property. Currently on secondment at Vodafone, Adam Baldwin is your quintessential man of suave style. Recent field trips include Savile Row, Madame Butterfly at the Royal Opera and the Big Apple — to name but a few.

A photo posted by Adam Baldwin (@adambaldwin) on Mar 19, 2015 at 11:09am PDT

6. Dermot O’Riordan, associate at Hogan Lovells

When Dermot O’Riordan isn’t engaged in high-level acquisition finance at Hogan Lovells, he can be found documenting his exciting holidays soaking up the South American sun with his fellow sun-kissed mates over a snazzy exotic drink in Buenos Aires, or crocodile-hunting in the Amazon.

Croc hunting in the Amazon #Pampas #Amazon #Gator #Travel

A photo posted by Dermot O'Riordan (@oriordand) on Apr 11, 2015 at 2:30pm PDT

7. Kathleen Fleming, solicitor at Axiom

The health guru. Originally trained at Norton Rose Fulbright, and currently diving into commercial contracts by day at investment bank Nomura as a locum lawyer employed by Axiom. Kathleen Fleming also enjoys training her body. She lifts. She cooks healthily. She’s a yoga master. Enough said.

Thank you for an awesome wake up @YogasphereUK @shardview Here is my "almost hanumanasana" #peakpose #yoga pic.twitter.com/9TfnCEMs3h

— Kathleen Fleming (@superfitandfood) August 9, 2014

8. Hekim Hannan, solicitor at Irvings

Personal injury litigation and fab selfies. Hekim Hannan, a former president of the Law Society Junior Lawyers Division, documents his regime of networking events and decadent breakfasts, while also posting autobiographical photos with holiday backgrounds.

A photo posted by Hekim (@hekimh) on May 10, 2015 at 4:23pm PDT

9. Jinita Pandhak, trainee solicitor at Wixted & Co

London-based Jinita Pandhak already has nearly 1,500 followers on Instagram. She is at the crux of documenting the life of a young up-and-comer, including selfie-stick grams in the Netherlands and luxurious moments in the pool.

Happiest and Free-est I've ever been.

A photo posted by Jinita Pandhak (@jpandhak) on Mar 7, 2015 at 9:56am PST

The post 9 young lawyers to follow on social media for a glimpse into the glamorous side of law appeared first on Legal Cheek.

Solicitors quickly ditch social media bid to pick up work in wake of Staffordshire amusement park disaster

A group of lawyers is today licking its wounds after discovering that no matter how cutting edge you think you are, you can still balls it up monster time on social media.

Broad Yorkshire Law is one of the new breed of “virtual” law firms, which sounds very “Blade Runner”. But in fact all it means is that instead of schlepping to an office every day, the lawyers perch at home in front of computers, probably not even changing out of dressing gowns and pants.

Virtual law firms conduct the vast majority of their business on-line, forsaking bricks and mortar as so yesterday. Therefore, it is easy to see why the top dogs at a virtual might reckon they have a firm grip on social media.

Think again.

Broad found itself on the sharp end of social and conventional media vitriol following its tweet in the wake of this week’s Alton Towers rollercoaster disaster.

The practice — which bills itself has having been launched by managing director, Lois Bayliss, “to ensure she could realise her dream to give clients what they wanted from their local law firm” — pumped out a message yesterday to anyone injured in the accident. The implication was — we’re top personal injury lawyers, so let’s get suing.

It doesn’t take too much reflection time to conclude that the tweet — complete with excited exclamation marks — was on the wrong side of the sensitivity line. Not least as it has been reported today that one victim has had a leg amputated as result of the accident on the Smiler ride and others remain seriously ill.

In the face of somewhat predictable outrage, the firm — which is headquartered in Sheffield — has binned the tweet and issued a humble apology. And within the last hour or so, Bayliss issued a Facebook statement saying: “As the director of Broad Yorkshire Law, I extend my sincere apologies for any offence caused to anyone and our thoughts go out to the victims of the accident and their families.”

Please accept our sincere apologies for any offence caused, none was intended and our best wishes go out to those who were stranded.

— Broad Yorkshire Law (@Broad_Yorkshire) June 2, 2015

Still, such social media faux pas have a way of raising wider points. First, is there any scope for a niche practice area of amusement park PI law, albeit conducted more sensitively?

Alton Towers itself seems to present relatively rich pickings for lawyers aiming to specialise. Eleven years ago, about 80 punters had to be rescued from the Sky ride when cables became jammed.

In 2006, dozens of trippers were reportedly injured in an incident that saw the Runaway Mine Train ride closed for a season. And two years ago, back on the Smiler, a rider was injured when hit by a loosened wheel casing.

There have also been a series of fires at the Staffordshire theme park. But it is by no means the only UK fun fair to have problems.

In 2011, 22 punters had to be rescued from the Surf Rider at Botton’s Amusement Park at Skegness. That same year, an unfortunate granny lost her legs in an accident on the Jungle River Log Flume at Bridlington Bayside Fun Park.

And while Broad Yorkshire Law’s tweeted bid to drum up work is now seen as crass ambulance chasing, there may come a time when that sort of law firm social media advertising in the wake of various incidents becomes routine.

Read the firm’s statement in full below:

The post Cutting edge ‘virtual’ law firm in hot water over ambulance-chasing Alton Towers tweet appeared first on Legal Cheek.

It may well be a grind, but if you can make it to the top of the English solicitors’ profession, a pool of cash awaits

Moves by several City of London law firms to boost trainee and newly-qualified solicitor wage packets have triggered speculation that a salary war is about to break out at that end of the profession.

But Square Mile solicitors were reminded yesterday that the money on offer to junior lawyers looks like peanuts when compared with the dosh being thrown at elite grey hairs. (Although, considering that most top firms adopt the view that lawyers are washed up by the time they hit 50, not that many actually need of a daub of the old Just for Men or L’Oreal.)

Global firm Allen & Overy announced yesterday that it is adding a performance-related bonus pool to its partner remuneration scheme. The firm’s current profit-per-equity partner figure — the average annual drawing a full equity player will take home — rose by 7% last year to an eye-watering £1.12 million.

Now global managing partner — Belgian Joe 90 look-alike Wim Dejonghe — is slipping into his Father Christmas suit and preparing to shower the heavy-hitters with even more cash, depending on their ability to make it rain, of course.

The move comes as the City still awaits an announcement from Allen & Overy on trainee and newly-qualified solicitor pay rises. So far, Slaughter and May and Linklaters have announced significant boosts for junior lawyers, but Clifford Chance and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer join A&O in keeping their youngsters on tenterhooks.

According to a report yesterday on The Lawyer website, 90% of A&O partners agreed to add the pool on top of the firm’s lockstep structure. That is the traditional scheme that many English firms use, which effectively rewards equity partners for time served by bunging them guaranteed increases at the beginning of each financial year.

But lockstep systems have faced increasing criticism and pressure — not least as a result of enhanced competition in London from muscular global US firms. The Yanks — somewhat predictably — are bigger believers in rewarding individual performance and are not that keen at all on universal locksteps.

As a result of US firms in London luring big-swinging rainmakers from English rivals on the promise of tasty eat-what-you-kill remuneration packages, modifications to lockstep regimes at City firms have been gaining pace over recent years. A&O’s move is just the latest.

The Lawyer report says that strictly speaking A&O claims it will not be amending its lockstep, but simply adding a “discretionary points pool” for performance-related bonuses.

Some might suggest that once a partner is raking in north of a million quid a year, it’s difficult to see the point of a bonus. But the annual cost of sending the fruits of one’s loins to Eton mount up — the best part of £70,000 a year in fees alone to board two sons, for those interested.

Stateside, the numbers are even bigger. At the beginning of this year, the American Lawyer magazine reported that the elite group of US law firm equity partners wheelbarrowing home more than $10 million (£6.53m) in annual drawings was increasing dramatically.

Indeed, the magazine went on to point out that the top group was opening an ever-wider gap between it and other equity partners. And it’s all a by-product, according to the experts, of law evolving away from a profession and into a business.

One driver of the rocketing top-level drawings, Steven Slutsky, an analyst at PricewaterhouseCoopers told the magazine, is that “law is following the trends that we see in almost every other business”.

All of which means, that while most students doing law degrees and even those on the Legal Practice Course are unlikely even to practise top-flight commercial law, those that do and that claw their way to the top, can still coin it.

The post Millionaire A&O partners award themselves bonuses while remaining silent on junior lawyer pay rises appeared first on Legal Cheek.

Junior and senior lawyers speak a different language

As the poor, tired, huddled masses of trainees and pupils gird their loins for their arrival on the legal shores, yearning to breathe free, Wigapedia publishes another helpful* guideline for them (and their selfless supervisors) to cope with the linguistic pitfalls that can befall both.

*’Helpful’ in this instance is not the OED definition but is used in the strict legal sense of being entirely useless.

Hat tip to the hilarious @VeryBritishProblems for inspiration and ideas.

Wigapedia (aka Colm Nugent) is a barrister at Hardwicke in Lincoln’s Inn in London.

Follow @Wigapedia

Previously

How to speak lawyer: a guide for trainee solicitors and pupil barristers [Legal Cheek]

The post What the supervisor says Vs What the trainee hears appeared first on Legal Cheek.

King & Wood Mallesons solicitor Jeremy Consitt — who’ll be speaking at our latest free careers advice event later this month — spent 15 years working his way up from the bottom

I never expected to work in the City; as a student I always wanted to work in the provinces. Part of that is being from Wales. There’s a Welsh word ‘hiraeth’, which doesn’t directly translate but loosely means ‘homesickness’. And it sums up how I felt upon graduating in law from the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol in 1999. Perhaps, though, I was afraid of applying to big law firms in London with a degree from UWE.

At first getting a job in law was very hard. I did the then Bar Vocational Course (BVC) and knew it wouldn’t be a case for me of instantly getting a pupillage. So I went back home and managed to secure a job in a paralegal-type role with a struggling printing company that receivers were attempting to prevent from going out of business. There I was required to draft an employment contract from scratch (in the days before having internet access), and my career as an employment lawyer began.

Using that experience I managed to secure a position with DAS, a legal expenses insurance company, where I worked for four years as a paralegal. In that time I was able to cross-qualify as a solicitor with the experience I had gained exempting me from a training contract or pupillage. Crucially, I got to do all my own advocacy, which I loved. Although I might have done it differently in hindsight, the bar course actually set me up quite well in this respect, helping me develop skills that Legal Practice Course (LPC) graduates hadn’t had time to hone. I certainly don’t have any regrets about the route I have taken.

In 2005 I joined legal aid firm Harding Evans’ employment law department as a solicitor, and via a succession of moves to firms offering progressively better opportunities I ended up in 2011 being headhunted by Doyle Clayton, a small City of London law firm advising largely bluechips that also has an office in Reading. After a period of commuting I left Wales.

By this stage I had begun to develop a good reputation and strong client base. Still, I was surprised — and sceptical — when King & Wood Mallesons contacted me last year and invited me to lunch. But their offer to help develop a cost effective employment law product marketed at global clients was too interesting to refuse. So I moved again. One of the things that King & Wood Mallesons most valued was the early experience I’d had with small claims and acting for individuals, which meant that I knew how to do work cost efficiently. It is funny how life works out.

I’m still at a relatively early point of my career, being aged 37, but what I have learned on my odd journey is the importance of working hard to create breaks for yourself — and then taking them when they come along. As you do, your confidence builds one step at a time, and you begin to enjoy the scenery en route.

The other thing is the importance of being passionate about what you do. Ever since having given up as a seven-year-old on my dream to become a coach driver in favour of an ambition to be the next Perry Mason, I had always wanted to be a lawyer. I still love it, particularly the people-element of the job.

Finally, feeling that I have always had something to prove has also helped me. I am the youngest of four children (the other three are considerably older), but was the first person in the entire family to have studied A-levels, never mind to have gone to university. My parents came from tough backgrounds, but they worked hard to make sure I had a good education and worked hard at school — always using the Perry Mason character (and later Kavanagh QC) as a carrot to dangle before me as to what I might achieve.

My parents’ pride on that night I was called to the bar in 2000 in a world completely alien to them, I suppose, is what really began to spur me on. The memory of my late mum boasting to her friends that one of her sons became a barrister and works for a massive City law firm brings a tear to my eye. Perhaps that has driven me — a sense of achieving what they never could have dreamed possible.

Jeremy Consitt is a solicitor at King & Wood Mallesons. He will be speaking at ‘Alternatives for wannabe barristers: the City, in-house and academia’ at Inner Temple on 21 June. Get your free tickets here.

About Legal Cheek Careers posts.

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Legal profession kingpins advise qualified advocates that it’s not a good idea to swear at irritating members of public representing themselves

In the world of bureaucracy, the current triumvirate lording it over lawyers in England and Wales has set a new gold standard for waffle.

The organisations representing solicitors, barristers and legal executives yesterday released a 28-page set of guidelines advising hard-pressed lawyers on how to deal with the growing hordes of litigants in person that are cluttering the courts.

But any lawyers with enough time on their hands to plough through the advice are probably not spending that much time in court in the first place. So to assist busy advocates, Legal Cheek has boiled down the core elements.

To be fair, the crux of the guidelines from the Law Society, Bar Council and Chartered Institute of Legal Executives amounts to little more than common sense: explain issues clearly to litigants in person, and try to be civil to them.

“Avoid any technical language or legal jargon,” reads paragraph 21. Likewise, lawyers should “explain jargon where it cannot be avoided: a LiP who is already feeling at a disadvantage may be further intimidated and antagonised by the use of such language”.

Moreover, lawyers should “take extra care to avoid using inflammatory words or phrases that suggest or cause a dispute where there is none, or inflame a dispute, and avoid expressing any personal opinions on the LiP’s behaviour”.

In other words, avoid turning towards a litigant in person and smugly saying: “Oi Muppet — you call that cross-examination, do you … ?”

The guidelines also ominously warn lawyers that “correspondence and telephone calls from some LiPs may be emotive, repetitive, and potentially hostile”.

While 28 pages might seem slightly excessive to remind legally-qualified advocates that not behaving like pompous twats is probably the best course of action when dealing with distressed and disorientated members of the pubic, there might be a broader agenda afoot.

With legal aid eligibility squeezed to the point where even those kipping beneath Waterloo Bridge don’t qualify, lawyers will increasingly encounter litigants in person floundering around before judges.

Perhaps today’s manual will be tomorrow’s required reading on the advocacy elements of the Bar Professional Training and the Legal Practice courses.

Read the guidelines in full below:

Litigants in Person Guidelines for Lawyers – 1 June 2015

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