Legal aid solicitors and barristers in London, Leeds and Manchester latest to join insurgency

Peasants’ Revolt leader Wat Tyler and Jack o’ Kent were potentially contemporaries — although, to be fair, the latter was a mythical character from the Welsh Marches — and now their memories are being invoked in very modern battle over criminal legal aid.

The legal profession Twittersphere’s very own Jack of Kent — aka, solicitor David Allen Green — along with others have spent the last few days imploring criminal law solicitors to muster the spirit of Tyler’s 14th-century insurrection.

While Tyler’s peasants were enraged by centuries of serfdom and the imposition of an unfair poll tax, criminal law solicitors have had a bellyful of legal aid rate cuts — first at the hands of the last coalition government and now another tranche imposed by the current Lord Chancellor.

Tyler’s nemesis was the 14-year-old Bordeaux-born Richard II; the current lawyers’ revolt has in its crosshairs Justice Secretary Michael Gove, and they are getting increasingly feisty.

Indeed, one of those at the social media forefront of the revolt is barrister Ian West from Middlesbrough and Newcastle-based Fountain Chambers. As at least one Crown Court judge has learnt to his cost, getting on the wrong side of West can be a hairy business. So when West says “revolt”, perhaps Gove should take notice.

West was responding to a Twitter hashtag #lawyersrevolt, under which JoK had noted that crime solicitors in various regions of the country were gearing up to follow the strike action proposed last week by Liverpool lawyers.

Indeed, Jack of Kent suggested that brethern in Birmingham, Cardiff and Hull were already on board, with lawyers in Leeds, Manchester and London joining the revolt yesterday evening.

Breaking, London: overwhelming support in both barrister and solicitor votes for action from 1 July against legal aid cuts.

— Jack of Kent (@JackofKent) June 29, 2015

Rebellious meetings are apparently scheduled additionally for Leicester, Derby, Nottingham and elsewhere in Wales.

So it looks like West was right last week when he predicted uprising on Merseyside was just the beginning.

The Peasants' Revolt, 2015, has started in Liverpool, but it won't finish there. Just needed a few with courage to take the first step.

— Ian West (@ianswest) June 25, 2015

Others have pointed out that despite causing something of a fuss, ultimately the revolt didn’t end happily for the peasants in 1381. Tyler himself came to an especially grim end with his head slapped on a spike and paraded across London Bridge.

@ianswest @robinthemint @JackofKent the Peasants' Revolt did not end well for the peasants, did it?

— Francis FitzGibbon (@ffgqc) June 28, 2015

Yet others debated whether invoking Chamberlain or Pangloss was a more appropriate comparison for the legal profession’s approach to Gove.

@rj7268 @ffgqc @ianswest @robinthemint @JackofKent It's more Panglossian than Chamberlainite.

— Russell Fraser (@russell_fraser) June 28, 2015

Meanwhile, Tony Cross QC, the chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, continued with his impersonation of shilly-shallying Reg, leader of the revolutionaries, the Peoples’ Front of Judea, in “The Life of Brian”.

In his weekly message yesterday to an increasingly hard press and agitated flock, Cross thundered that more discussion — and a survey — should save the day.

The Criminal Bar Association will not cease to make the case for solicitors to be properly remunerated and we will support them,” wrote the silk before railing: “how best to do this will be debated at the reconvened executive meeting this week. The CBA executive has promised to keep the situation under review. It shall.

If that wasn’t enough to send Gove scurrying for cover behind a phalanx of special advisers, Cross went on to hit the Ministry of Justice with this killer punch.

I shall be communicating with the Criminal Law Solicitors Association and each of the 35 firms of the Big Firm [sic] Group to ask them to set out very clearly their position and for their permission to state their views publicly so as to ensure that the membership of the CBA have a clear and accurate understanding of the matter.

That should do the trick.

At least the Big Firms’ Group — some 20 of the larges criminal law solicitors’ practices — had a letter published in The Times (£) at the weekend, welcoming a statement in the House of Lords querying whether Gove should go ahead with the next round of legal aid cuts before the latest contract tenders had been concluded.

Still, it’s a fairly safe bet that the bookies are giving short odds on some metaphorical rebellious heads ending up again on London Bridge pikes.

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Why bother with application forms when you can DM the boss?

Training contract applications will no doubt be ruining the summer break of many law students right now.

With endless form filling, psychometric testing, phone-interviews and essay-style questions, the outlook — unlike the summer weather this week — is bleak.

However, University of York law grad Matthew Lockey (pictured above) has discovered a novel way to land a training contract that circumvents the whole stressful process.

Simply tweet one of the senior directors at your local law firm.

Lockey, 22, from Sunderland, sent a direct message — or ‘DM’ — via Twitter to the director of a local law firm back in November of last year, in the hope of bagging some legal work.

Anthony McCarthy, director of Middlesbrough-based Macks Solicitors and occasional local football journalist, was the recipient of the law student’s speculative enquiry.

At the time, wannabe lawyer Lockey — who despite living in Sunderland is an avid Middlesbrough FC fan — was a keen reader of McCarthy’s humorous Boro match reports that were often published in the local newspaper, the Evening Gazette

Having applied for several paralegal roles and training contracts across the northeast with little success, Lockey had discovered — via the writer’s Twitter bio — that McCarthy was in fact a solicitor, and spotted an opportunity.

At the time Lockey was working in a bar and studying the Legal Practice Course (LPC) part-time at Northumbria University. Speaking to Legal Cheek yesterday, he recalled:

I sent the direct message in late November, sometime shortly before my birthday and though it was formal in nature as a general enquiry I did sign it off with #utb [Up The Boro].

McCarthy (pictured below), who himself joined the firm as a trainee back in 1998, responded later that day explaining that there were currently no vacancies, but he said he would pass on Lockey’s details to the firm’s managing director.

It wasn’t long before the Boro-mad law student was asked to come in for interview, and was offered a part-time role at the firm while he completed his LPC.

Since taking up his new role in the firm’s personal injury department earlier this year, the speculative tweet has now landed lucky Lockey a training contract. He explained to us:

I have since been offered a training contract and this will start later this year, around September time most probably. I’m not sure which area of law I would like to practice in and I am looking forward to experiencing the various departments.

The jammy opportunistic law student appears to be the envy of his fellow training contract hunters. He continued:

My fellow law students are all in disbelief that as they continue filling in online application forms, drafting cover letters and perfecting their CVs I obtained a training contract through sending a speculative message on Twitter.

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City office of New York global player set to offer jobs to all four of its autumn 2015 qualifying lawyers

Prestigious New York-based firm Sullivan & Cromwell will retain all four of its autumn 2015 qualifiers in London, the firm announced yesterday afternoon.

The trainees are currently completing their final seats abroad, with two at HQ in New York, one in Hong Kong and another in Paris.

The firm — which has had a London presence since 1972 — will up its trainee intake this year, meaning six training contracts scheduled to start in 2017 are up for grabs.

The small intake of greenhorn lawyers — who will begin life on magic-circle-trumping annual salaries of £97,500 — will be based in the firm’s transactional practice. The firm said they will deal with areas including, capital markets, project finance and restructuring.

This latest retention announcement follows several high rates by fellow US players in the City.

Weil Gotshal & Manges and Shearman & Sterling posted 100% retention figures last month. While Latham & Watkins posted a 95% figure, with 20 of its 21 trainees accepting permanent roles at the firm.

Previously:

Latham & Watkins is latest US firm in London to trumpet high newly-qualified retention rate [Legal Cheek]

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Wannabe lawyer splurged firm’s cash on first-class travel and took a call girl to formal work dinner — quality performance!

A “mature” summer vac schemer at arguably the world’s richest law firm has allegedly gone on a Wolf of Wall Street-style binge involving drugs and prostitutes — much of it on the partners’ shilling.

Ribald stories emerged this morning from California of a 35-year-old-plus wannabe lawyer at Los Angeles-based Latham & Watkins.

According to a report in our US fellow traveller website, Above the Law, the “Big Law” candidate was booked to fly to the west coast for a three-day intensive vacation scheme, known in Latham circles as the “summer academy”.

However, the late entrant to the law — who is rumoured to come from a wealthy family — missed several arranged flights before upgrading the seat he eventually bagged to first class — at the firm’s expense.

On arrival at the booked hotel, the cheeky vac-schemer — dubbed Bottle Service by Above the Law for his alleged generosity with colleagues in pubs and night clubs throughout his brief stint at the firm — upgraded to a penthouse suite, but this time broke out his own plastic.

Unfortunately for this role model to all wannabe lawyers, the suite was reported to be bang next door to another that was held for Latham partners visiting from other parts of the firm’s 33-office global empire.

That meant that Rolf — as we shall we call our fictitious partner from Germany, who had just flown 14 hours from the Dusseldorf outpost and simply wanted to get some Zs as soon as possible — was kept awake as Bottle Service allegedly engaged in a cocaine-fuelled all-nighter with a bevy of prostitutes.

BS then allegedly took a leaf from Richard Gere’s oeuvre and adopted a Pretty Woman theme by bringing one of the working girls – kitted out in tasteful spandex, according to sources — to a formal Latham dinner.

Even in Hollywood this sort of behaviour doesn’t go down that well in the eyes of global law firm top dogs. Bottle Service is understood to have been given his cards.

Above the Law “reached out” — which Legal Cheek thinks means contacted — the firm’s LA HQ, with a spokesperson of unidentified gender reported to have said:

We do not comment on personnel matters, but we are unaware of any evidence to support that the alleged illegal activities occurred.

So perhaps this story has been through a process of Chinese whispers. Indeed, a spokeswoman for the London office said she had nothing to add to HQ’s reported line.

However, it almost goes without saying — but clearly we’re going to say it in any event — that Legal Cheek has fingers crossed that Bottle Service blags his way into qualification at another global firm and somehow soon ends up posted to the City of London.

We’re happy to send him a copy of our recent drugs and lawyers survey to whet the appetite.

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Scottish road traffic law specialist was simply trying to charge his phone — and keep warm

A two-year-qualified Scottish solicitor has convinced a judge that while he had curled up in an advocate’s gown in a parked car following a boozy party, he had no intention of driving.

Kristopher Buchanan was nearly five times over the legal alcohol limit when police in Hamilton near Glasgow found him slumped in a Fiat Punto and bundled in court dress.

According to a report in yesterday’s Mail Online, the judge heard that the car’s engine was running and its headlamps fired up.

But Buchanan (pictured below) — who trained and qualified at local firm Scullion Law and who now specialises in crime and road traffic law — convinced the sheriff hearing the case that driving was the last thing on his mind.

Instead, Buchanan’s successful defence ran, he was simply trying to charge his mobile phone and keep warm.

The solicitor — who graduated from Strathclyde University with a law degree five years ago — had started his evening at a Christmas party last year at Hamilton’s salubrious Palace nightclub. He had intended to go for a hangover-clearing game of park football the next morning and had arranged to stay at the home of a chum for some pre-match kip.

However, according to the newspaper, typical post-Crimbo bash confusion struck and the mate took a cab home without bothering to collect one of Hamilton’s brightest young legal minds.

So Buchanan — who, according to his firm’s website, “has a particular penchant for burgers” — pragmatically decided to curl up in one of the pool cars in the firm forecourt.

It is not clear whether all Scullion pool cares are kitted out with advocates’ gowns.

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Only a few hours in and solicitors were already at each other throats — and the bar continues to shilly-shally

Criminal law legal aid solicitors had been striking for only a few hours when allegations of scab behaviour started to fly yesterday afternoon.

One of the first to point a finger was Franklin Sinclair, the rambunctious senior partner of what claims to be the largest crime law firm in England — London and Manchester-based Tuckers.

Sinclair took to social media to out fellow Manchester firm Abbey Solicitors for allegedly breaking the strike.

Abbeys sols have broken strike in Manchester. Pls retweet and also pls never use them foragencies etc.their boss is Nadeem Ullah,shame on u

— Franklin Sinclair (@FMStuckers) July 1, 2015

Some posted possible defences if were indeed true that Abbey was continuing to take legal aid cases.

@FMStuckers 1st day ? Are you sure they're not dealing with 1st app with pre existing legal aids ?

— John Richards (@JohnnyRichards) July 1, 2015

But the boss at another local firm was convinced that Abbey was on the wrong side of the picket line.

In an email to Legal Cheek yesterday evening, Abbey Solicitors senior partner Nadeem Ullah said the firm had no comment on allegations that it was hoovering up work while others were striking.

Then Tuckers itself was challenged for allegedly not being quite as donkey jacket-wearing and committed to the workers’ struggle as it might like the others to believe.

@FMStuckers Franklin can you confirm that your consultants in Warwickshire are not mopping up clients from other firms who are taking action

— M.Ahmed (@muz1230) July 1, 2015

It was an allegation that elicited an emotional response from one criminal lawyer.

@muz1230 bloody made my blood boil

— Cath brockway (@CathBrockway) July 1, 2015

Adam Makepeace, Tuckers’ practice director, dismissed claims of hypocrisy. He maintained the confusion around Warwickshire resulted from the firm operating through a consultant in that region.

“He is not under our direct control in the same way as an employee is,” Makepeace told Legal Cheek last night, adding:

However, we expect him to adhere to our stance. We were first put on notice that he was not acting in accordance with our protocol around 12.30 this afternoon [yesterday]. We will ensure that either he observes our protocol or that he doesn’t do any work outside the protocol through Tuckers.

Makepeace continued:

The organisation of all of this has come very late. The Birmingham meeting was not finished until after 6pm yesterday afternoon. This guy has slipped through the net of organising ourselves properly — but we will deal with it.

Sources close to the criminal legal aid fraternity maintained yesterday evening that Tuckers had turned down several significant sets of instructions since the strike began.

Solicitors around the country have organised local strikes without formal invovlement of their national representation body, the Law Society.

Indeed, Chancery Lane’s apparently sole comment on legal aid yesterday was to tweet a note at lay-punters pointing out that funding was still available in certain civil areas.

#Legalaid is still available for family issues, immigration, mental health +other areas. Info: http://t.co/HJtcgtOKjJ pic.twitter.com/K9IDIC2Pov

— The Law Society (@TheLawSociety) July 1, 2015

Criminal lawyers are incensed that the Conservative government appears committed to imposing a second round of nearly 9% rate cuts on law firms, following a similar slash last year.

Inflaming the situation has been a Ministry of Justice decision announced several days ago that cuts scheduled for Crown Court advocates would be put on hold. That move is seen as a bid by Justice Secretary Michael Gove to mollify the bar and drive a wedge between the two sides of the legal profession.

Indeed, the Criminal Bar Association only decided yesterday to ballot its members on “next steps”. In a note to members, the CBA said:

The question is this: solicitors face an 8.75% cut to litigators fees. In support of solicitors, do you wish to go back to ‘no returns’ and also refuse all new work with a representation order dated from 1 July 2015 until such time as solicitors decide not to take further action in respect of that cut? Yes/No.

The deadline for voting is, rather appropriately, 14 July — Bastille Day.

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Lord Chancellor and top judges throw out complaint from Alan Blacker about behaviour of Crown Court judge in Cardiff

The Crown Court judge who told solicitor-advocate Alan Blacker that he looked like something out of a Harry Potter film has been vindicated by officialdom.

Blacker — who styles himself as Lord Harley of Counsel — had complained about the conduct of Circuit Judge David Wynn Morgan.

Sitting in a trial last August, Judge Morgan upbraided Blacker for dressing “like something out of Harry Potter”. Blacker routinely wears a collection of ribbons on an advocate’s gown that he claims were earned for voluntarily medical service with the St John Ambulance.

But that didn’t stop Judge Morgan from railing:

Here in South Wales, we had a barrister, who later became a judge, who, during the Battle of Normandy, was awarded the highest order of gallantry, the Victoria Cross. Did you ever see him wearing that medal? No. He would have considered it the height of vulgarity.

Blacker launched a complaint about the judge’s comments to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office. But earlier this morning it was announced that Judge Morgan was in the clear.

In a statement, the office said:

The Lord Chancellor and the President of the Queen’s Bench Division, on behalf of the Lord Chief Justice, have dismissed complaints against His Honour Judge David Wynn Morgan, a Circuit Judge sitting at Cardiff Crown Court following an investigation into his conduct.

The statement continued:

The Lord Chancellor and the President of the Queen’s Bench Division found that HHJ Morgan was entitled to challenge the appearance and status as a legal representative of Mr Alan Blacker, also known as Lord Harley and this did not amount to misconduct. HHJ Morgan has been issued with informal advice regarding how to deal with such situations in future. This is not, however, a form of rebuke or disciplinary sanction.

Responding to the finding, Blacker told Legal Cheek:

There is no such person as Mr Blacker and the Supreme Court acknowledged Lord Harley’s title in its report as is right and proper. Lord Harley refers the public to the full report on the Judiciary website rather than reading gutter press to whom his Lordship gives no audience.

Blacker’s controversial style — in conjunction with his claim to hold a vast array of qualifications and awards — has engendered outrage among elements of the legal profession.

Previously

‘Lord Harley of Counsel’ makes formal complaint against judge who criticised him for dressing ‘like something out of Harry Potter’ [Legal Cheek]

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Five-year-call housing specialist Connor Johnston joins Duggan family solicitor on podium along with 11 others at gala celebration

A junior housing and community care specialist barrister has scooped this year’s premier legal aid award for young lawyers.

Connor Johnston of Garden Court Chambers in London last night bagged the legal aid newcomer prize at the Legal Aid Practitioners Group’s annual awards.

Johnston — a Sheffield University law graduate — became a tenant at Garden Court in 2012 after completing pupillage at the chambers.

He is a former joint-chairman of the Young Legal Aid Lawyers group, and his chambers’ website profile describes Johnston as being “committed to legal aid work and to representing the interests of those who are homeless or at risk of losing their home”.

Johnston’s award was one of a baker’s dozen of prizes doled out last night to the stars of the legal aid firmament.

Leading the pack was Marcia Willis-Stewart, managing partner of London-based Birnberg Peirce & Partners, who acted for the family at the inquest into the 2011 police shooting of Mark Duggan. Willis-Stewart was named public law solicitor of the year.

Public Law Project received the outstanding achievement honour in recognition of the London-based charity’s role in fighting the proposed legal aid cuts with a series of successful judicial reviews.

And Bill Waddington and Robin Murray of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, and Jonathan Black and Paul Harris of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association picked up a special gong for “their tireless campaigning against government reforms to criminal legal aid”.

Other winners were:

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Global City of London firm boosts junior level pay across the board with trainees now taking home £42,000

Herbert Smith Freehills is the latest firm to throw extra money at top young legal talent as the City pay war continues.

The Primrose Street-based firm in the City — which currently offers around 70 annual training contracts — today announced rises in first and second-year trainee salaries. First-year trainees are boosted to £42,000 from £39,500, while those a year ahead will receive a 4.5% rise meaning they will now be taking home £46,000.

Herbies’ newly qualified (NQ) lawyers will also see a substantial difference to pay packets. The firm revealed it will raise NQ pay by more than 6% to £69,000, giving them bragging rights over their magic circle counterparts at Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

The firm — which is the product of the 2012 merger between London “silver circle” practice Herbert Smith and Australian “big six” outfit Freehills — will also reward those higher up the junior division.

Two-year PQE associates will see the largest pay boost, receiving a 10% rise from £79,000 to £87,000. Three-year PQE salaries are up by nearly 8.4% to £96,500, while four-year PQE salaries break the six-figure mark, taking home £102,000 up from £95,000.

Herbies’ managing partner for the UK and US, Ian Cox, said in a statement:

These salary increases reflect the exceptionally strong performance of the London office over the past year, but this is also about investing in the firm’s future.

The development follows an announcement last month that trainees at Nabarro would not receive any extra money in their pay packets, despite revenues rocketing by 21%.

It was also slim pickings for trainees at Anglo-German law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. The global firm announced last month that it was upping trainee salaries by only 1%, despite equity partners taking home on average £1.5 million.

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Regulators silent so far as Andrew Iyer’s new business looks and feels a lot like a law firm — but he’s careful in the fine print to say it isn’t

A man convicted for “one of the worst cases of fraud” ever seen in the solicitors’ profession has launched a “legal services” business that could come to the attention of regulators and even the police.

Nathan Andrew Iyer, a former energy lawyer at City of London shipping specialist firm Ince & Co, was struck off the roll in 2012 for frauds involving more than £2.8 million. He was convicted the next year and sentenced to a four-year-eight-month prison stretch.

But Iyer — who once dated the daughters of film legend Michael Caine and England football hero Bobby Moore — is now released from the nick and back in the Square Mile law game.

He has launched IYLegal, “a legal services firm based in the City of London”.

According to the business’s website, IYLegal — not to be confused with Leicester commercial property outfit IY Legal — provides “English law advice and services to the commodities, energy, insurance, international trade, logistics, offshore, renewables, shipping and transport sectors.” The blurb goes on: “We assist clients across their business activities, providing a wide range of legal services and business support”.

Indeed, not only does the IYLegal marketing pitch look and feel like that of a City law firm, its website is actually slicker and better than many.

The site continues:

Our combination of first class legal expertise and experience, a thorough understanding of our clients’ businesses and the sectors they operate in, accompanied by a strategic approach to problem solving, enables us to achieve excellent results for our clients and deliver real value for money.

The marketing jargon then moves towards a crucial disclaimer. “How legal services are provided in the UK has changed,” it reads. “Very often clients do not have to instruct solicitors and incur their significant fees. In our specialised areas we are a highly skilled, cost effective, business focused alternative to a traditional firm of solicitors.”

It then turns to the delicate subject of its founder’s professional qualifications:

While he was practising as a solicitor, Andrew Iyer was described by Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession as: ‘an extraordinarily fine lawyer with the full portfolio of skills, from negotiating contracts to claims, disputes and arbitrations — he’s the whole package!’

No mention of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal hearing on 7 February 2012, which found: “Clients of the firm were defrauded by the respondent over a considerable period of time and extremely large sums were involved. It was in fact as bad a case of fraud as the present tribunal had seen.”

And certainly no mention on the IYLegal site of Iyer’s spot of porridge.

Section 21 of the Solicitors Act 1974 stipulates that it is a criminal offence to pretend to be a solicitor. And clearly, Iyer is confident that his new business and its website are within the law.

While the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is the most likely complainant to the police in cases where the legislation may have been breached, in fact anyone can initiate a prosecution.

Of course, any decision to prosecute needs to be made on a reasonably secure chance of success. That would mean taking a view on how the public would interpret specific marketing phrases.

The SRA would not comment on whether it had a view on the IYLegal site.

Iyer has been one of the legal profession’s most colourful characters. In addition to his high-profile love life — and his inclination to fleece large amounts of money from his former clients and partnership — Iyer is the author of two legal thrillers.

“The Betrayed”, published in 2007, tells the story of a provincial family lawyer, who for some reason is tasked with tracking down a missing French masterpiece painting. Meanwhile, 1995’s “Domino Run” involves a London lawyer being dragged into a complicated murder mystery.

It is not known whether Iyer whiled away his time behind bars penning another thriller.

However, online City partner chat room, Roll on Friday, pointed out that during his fraud trial it emerged that Iyer had attempted to secure an OBE through a ludicrous contrivance.

He invented a cancer specialist who wrote to the great and the good claiming to be a huge fan of Iyer, not least because he had raised some £1.8 million for research. But funnily enough, he hadn’t.

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Document underlines difficulty profession faces in presenting a united front against government legal aid policy

A law firm that claims to be the biggest provider of publicly funded Crown Court work has partially backed the government’s legal aid cuts in defence of its own decision not to support a criminal law practitioners strike.

Management at 17-lawyer strong Abbey Solicitors in Manchester issued an internal memo (embedded below) on Friday that was leaked to the press.

The note maintained that descriptions of the firm as a strike-breaker were unfair because the senior partners were clear in advance of the action that they did not support the move, with senior partner Nadeem Ullah writing

We have not broken direct action in Manchester. This is a misrepresentation; we made our position clear at the outset, we are not prepared to participate in any action.

Ullah went on to justify that decision by saying:

In this time of austerity, to sustain legal aid we recognise the government has had make [sic] cuts across all areas of public spending, including criminal legal aid. We do not believe causing disruption to the courts by refusing to take on new cases from 1st July 2015 is the answer to the very grave long-term problems the CJS [criminal justice system] faces.

In the document, which was leaked to Legal Cheek, Ullah said the firm’s decision was not taken lightly and was in most part motivated by a continuing “commitment to helping the most vulnerable”.

Abbey’s senior partner also addressed recent social media attacks on the firm for “being disloyal”. Said Ullah:

… wider issues are at stake other than fees. We remind our colleagues the decision to take on publicly funded work is an individual one. We are not a trade union. We therefore ask those unhappy with our stance to respect our individual decision.

Ullah criticised elements of the legal aid law firm fraternity for not holding firm when Whitehall put the reformed contract out for tender. He claimed that there have been more than 1,500 bids for about 500 contracts, continuing:

We were all aware when bidding for the contracts the fee cut would be built into the new rates. The profession should have taken a stand at that point by refusing to bid for the contracts. Supply would have outweighed demand and the government would have been forced to rethink its policy. However, as there are more firms bidding than there are contracts. It is abundantly clear what the economics are … the profession has acted too late.

On Merseyside — where the latest round of legal aid strike action began last week — lawyers were convinced they were making an impact.

At the end of last week, Zoe Gascoyne, a partner at Liverpool law firm Quinn Melville, told the Liverpool Echo:

There’s been massive disruption. There’s been considerable disruption in police stations and across the country with people not able to access legal advice … This action will cause a huge strain on the courts system. Unrepresented defendants take an awful lot longer to deal with.

Indeed, there are reports that lawyers from the government’s Public Defender Service (PDS) have had to be called in to reduce the disruption caused by the protests. But a Ministry of Justice spokesman dismissed the effects as “negligible”, stating:

Courts sat as usual. Over 95% of cases at a police station requiring a solicitor were picked up within an hour — little different to any other day.

Meanwhile, over the weekend the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) issued a release reminding its members of the “no returns” protocol as it announced that it is balloting members on whether they want to support solicitors by reviving last year’s policy of refusing new work.

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The Anglo-US firm has held on to 23 of 29 autumn qualifiers

Transatlantic giant Hogan Lovells revealed last week that 23 of its 29 autumn 2015 qualifiers will remain at their London office.

Newly-qualified (NQ) roles were offered to 25 of the 26 trainees who applied — with 23 accepting — equating to a retention figure of 79%. The firm also revealed that one of the NQs would be operating on a short-term contract.

The latest band of HogLoves lawyers — who begin life on a recently improved pay packet of £70,000 — will be spread across several of the firm’s practice areas.

Corporate will receive 11 new lawyers, while litigation, arbitration and employment will receive six between them, four will head to finance and the remaining two are bound for the firm’s competition department.

The Holborn-based firm — which offers around 60 training contracts a year — has improved slightly on its spring 2015 retention figure of 72%.

The development follows a strong retention result from Los Angeles-based Latham & Watkins, keeping 95% of its London trainee cohort. Meanwhile, New Yorkers Shearman & Sterling lead the way, having posted a perfect 100%, with all 13 of the firm’s trainees accepting permanent roles.

Previously:

Weil keeps pace with US rivals, offering jobs to all nine qualifying lawyers [Legal Cheek]

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Bank refuses to clarify status staff sacked for recreating an Isis-style beheading — but press reports claimed they had a legal function

One of the world’s biggest banks has refused to clarify this afternoon whether any of its lawyers were involved in a joke that backfired spectacularly.

HSBC confirmed that it had sacked six staff after a video had been released of them enacting a mock Islamic terrorism-style execution at a Birmingham go-karting track.

Newspaper reports said the men were with the bank’s legal department at its regional headquarters in Birmingham.

However, a bank spokeswoman declined to respond to a Legal Cheek request that HSBC clarify whether the dismissed six were indeed employed in the legal team — as reported initially by The Sun newspaper — and whether they were lawyers.

The spokeswoman would say only:

We do not tolerate inappropriate behaviour. As soon as The Sun brought this video to our attention we took the decision to sack the individuals involved. This is an abhorrent video and HSBC would like to apologise for any offence caused.

The video was reportedly shot at a staff team-building day at Teamworks Karting in the Digbeth area of Birmingham.

Five of the six men were kitted out in black jumpsuits, while one of the team was allocated an orange outfit. This clearly put the chaps in mind of several recent execution videos promulgated by the vicious fundamentalist Islamic group, Isis.

They then videoed a scene in which the six black-jumpsuited men simulated the beheading of their orange jumpsuited colleague in which they wielded a coat hanger instead of a knife.

Managers at the karting track weren’t exactly chuffed with the performance.

Teamworks’ founding director Simone Schehtman told the Birmingham Mail newspaper:

The abhorrent video was filmed without any of our staff’s knowledge, when the perpetrators decided to hide in the changing rooms, during a private party booked by one of our corporate clients and we would not wish this to reflect negatively on Teamworks Karting. We have complained to HSBC and understand the individuals involved have since been dismissed.

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Revamped portal is a glitzy marketing bid that is bound to raise temperatures across the profession

Bar chiefs have backed the re-launch of an online direct access website aimed at the public in a move that could ratchet up antagonism between the two main branches of the legal profession.

The Bar Council said it was providing an official imprimatur to a project initiated by two Northern Circuit barristers — Prudence Beever and Mike Whyatt — called the Direct Access Portal.

The site acts as an online register of barristers qualified to take instructs direct from laypeople and is pitched at clients looking to avoid going through solicitors.

Barristers have to pay an annual £100 fee to be listed and the site (pictured below) has replaced the Bar Council’s earlier register. The portal is described by officials as “the main hub for consumers seeking to find a direct access barrister”.

At a recent re-launch event in Manchester, Bar Council Chairman Alistair MacDonald QC described the portal as demonstrating that “innovation in the barristers’ profession is clearly alive and well.”

MacDonald went on to say:

The Direct Access Portal was designed with one aim in mind; to make it easier for the public to access the quality services that barristers provide. There are now thousands of barristers able to provide legal advice and other services directly to members of the public, potentially saving them money in the process. This portal will act as the point of access to these barristers.

Crime and family law specialist Beever — a 15-year-call junior at Fifteen Winckley Square chambers in Preston — said:

Our motivation for creating the Direct Access Portal was not to make a profit but to simply make life easier for anyone looking for a barrister. There is no catch. Consumers don’t have to pay a fee to find a barrister. The portal is free to use.

Beever and Whyatt — a property and financial disputes specialist at the same chambers, who was called in 1992 — developed and financed the portal jointly with Beever’s husband, a retired airline pilot.

The three have cut an “equal partnership” with the Bar Council, with each side allocating directors to the project.

The portal currently has some 300 direct access barristers listed.

The move will be seen as an aggressive commercial attack on solicitors, as the portal is a well-produced and hi-tech bid to lure clients away from them. However, the Bar Council is thought still to be smarting at the increasing numbers of solicitor-advocates qualifying with higher court rights and effectively encroaching on barristers’ traditional patch.

Responding to the portal’s re-launch, the Law Society — the body representing solicitors in England and Wales — issued a curt statement:

Solicitors provide vital support to clients in contentious matters. Clients have been able to instruct barristers directly for some time, but they may find that barristers are not able to give the full range of services and advice that solicitors can provide.

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Ok, so they’re in unfashionable Toronto and not NYC, but the airbrushed Henein Hutchison mob has nailed the look just in time for broadcast of series five

Despite all modern life’s diversions — Xbox, social media rows, hours of Candy Crush frustration, and even just talking to mates down the boozer — some people still spend too much time in front of the telly.

Meet the airbrushed law firm of the year so far — Toronto’s Henein Hutchison.

As at least one Twitter commentator pointed out recently, these lawyers are far too keen on the cult US TV series Suits, which has just kicked off its fifth season.

There must be a shed-load of money in white-collar crime work in Ontario, because this specialist firm appears to have recruited the entire Suits production/design crew and costume department to create its website.

While clearly the themes of the Mad Men for the law series — deception, fraud and professional negligence — do not apply to the Canadians, the firm certainly has bought into the look.

First up are Marie Henein and Scott Hutchison, the named partners who mirror the fictional founding partners of Suits law firm Pearson Specter Litt, Jessica Lourdes Pearson and Louis Marlowe Litt.

Then there’s Samuel Walker adopting the mantle of Harvey Reginald Specter. And finally Matthew Gourlay, who for our purposes slots into the crucial role of Michael James “Mike” Ross.

Although, to be fair, while Ross’s core character point is that he never attended university, let alone bag a Harvard law degree, we are confident that Gourlay’s creditntials from Toronto University are as pukka as they come and that he is fully qualified to practise as an Ontario barrister.

Keep an eye on the Henein Hutchison site as it is bound to evolve with release of the sixth series of Suits next year.

The post Is this the real ‘Suits’ law firm? appeared first on Legal Cheek.

A former high street law firm practitioner from Wales makes British armed forces history

A state school-educated solicitor is set to become the the British Army’s highest-ranking woman officer, as the Ministry of Defence announced Susan Ridge’s promotion earlier this week.

Ridge, currently a Brigadier and director the army’s legal advisory department, will from September be the army’s first female Major General.

After reading history at Bangor University in Wales, Ridge completed the pre-Graduate Diploma in Law conversion course at the then College of Law.

She went on to complete the old Law Society Finals exam — the predecessor of today’s Legal Practice Course — before training and qualifying at north Wales general practice Swayne Johnson Wright, which is now simply Swayne Johnson.

Her private practice career focused on non-contentious work and Ridge had been with the firm for four years when the then 29-year-old was asked to join the partnership.

Ridge declined the offer because she wanted to “escape the mundane nature of normal life”. So she joined up and enrolled on the professionally qualified officer’s course at Sandhurst in 1992.

In those days, that branch of the Sandhurst regime was colloquially known as the vicars and tarts training course, as it was a far cry from the strenuous boot camp imposed on front-line soldiers.

However, lawyers with a yearning for the military life today will not be so lucky. An army spokesman explained that the updated 10-week course is based directly on the regular commissioning course. The focus is on “officership, command and leadership”, and the syllabus includes field training, physical training, weapons training and good old-fashioned drill.

When not out in the field, future army lawyers, doctors, dentists, nurses, physiotherapists and chaplains are in classrooms for lessons on global security, leadership psychology and the history of warfare.

Along with promotion, Ridge will have an enhanced professional role as Director General Army Legal Services. In that position, she will be the army’s chief legal adviser, providing legal support to the soldiers in barracks, on training and on operations.

Speaking earlier this week, Ridge said:

The army is a constantly evolving organisation which has provided a varied and interesting legal career. It has allowed me the opportunity to develop and progress throughout my working life. I feel very honoured and privileged to have been given this opportunity.

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Your Honour, are you OK?

Not sure what to do with all the free time suddenly foisted on him, Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) graduate Munawar Sheikh has compiled a helpful courtroom guide that blends traditional advocacy methodology with insights from Michael Jackson’s 1987 hit Smooth Criminal.

The young advocate enters court

#EnteringCourt / #OpeningStatement #FutureBarrister #Law #MSHEIKH01 pic.twitter.com/FvkrPz2LLy

— Munawar Sheikh (@MSHEIKH01) July 8, 2015

With the opening statement concluded, it’s time for a robust cross-examination

Laying the #Smackdown on #CrossExamination #Barrister #law pic.twitter.com/1dUR75Hayw

— Munawar Sheikh (@MSHEIKH01) July 8, 2015

While on his or her feet, it’s desirable for the young advocate to show a certain swagger

#courtroom #swagger #SmoothCriminal #barrister #futurebarrister #law pic.twitter.com/RCrSrZ0fbA

— Munawar Sheikh (@MSHEIKH01) July 8, 2015

To overcome setbacks, it’s crucial to have a well-rehearsed legal team

When the #defendant has an #Alibi and everyone's like (see pic) #FutureBarrister #Law #LegalCheek #barrister #smooth pic.twitter.com/g2UAcvyGN6

— Munawar Sheikh (@MSHEIKH01) July 8, 2015

A tilt of an advocate’s headgear is a neat way to disorientate an opponent

When #defence #counsel squares up 2 the #CrownProsecutor #SmoothCriminal #law #barrister #FutureBarrister #LegalCheek pic.twitter.com/WqSXtS51gi

— Munawar Sheikh (@MSHEIKH01) July 8, 2015

A modicum of triumphalism on the achievement of a positive result is part of parcel of courtroom life

When you reassure your #client & tell the #prosecution "I told you so" #NotGuilty #LegalCheek #law #SmoothCriminal pic.twitter.com/H5brA42xcy

— Munawar Sheikh (@MSHEIKH01) July 8, 2015

Bowing, while maintaining an upright posture, signals an optimum level of respect for the judicial process

When you leave court #victorious #bow to the judge having #accomplished the #impossible #law #barrister #LegalCheek pic.twitter.com/hOkFgAF8ke

— Munawar Sheikh (@MSHEIKH01) July 8, 2015

Follow @MSHEIKH01

The post A young advocate’s guide to the courtroom, featuring Michael Jackson’s ‘Smooth Criminal’ appeared first on Legal Cheek.

As London’s Underground strike takes hold, Legal Cheek asks junior lawyers: fancy shouting mind the gap?

London Underground drivers adopt a French approach to the summer months — they get a whiff of the long warm days and they go on strike.

Drivers are currently causing misery to the capital’s 8.6 million inhabitants as they engage in a dispute over the proposed running of 24-hour weekend timetables. The £2,000 bonus offered for the added shifts doesn’t cut the mustard, as far as union bosses are concerned.

If nothing else, the London Tube strike is a perfect opportunity for wannabe and junior lawyers to assess whether they have made the right career choices. For regardless of the outcome of the current action, London drivers are already earning more than newly qualified solicitors at many top law firms around the country.

According to press reports this morning, Tube drivers currently start on annual salaries of … wait for it … £49,673. And there are suggestions that with bonuses — presumably for the most entertaining tannoy banter — pay packets can rise to as much as £61,000.

The average salary in the UK is about £26,500, with Londoners generally earning an additional £10,000.

So while Underground drivers are already earning well above the capital’s average annual whack, what’s surprising is how much more they are earning than some junior lawyers.

Indeed, many wannabe solicitors in the regions might consider whether the qualification process — involving years of study and incurring up to £50,000 of debt — is remotely worth it. Not least when all that is required for a Tube driver qualification is a set of “good” GCSEs and an ability not to fall asleep during a shift — or at least while the train is moving.

An initial glance at publicly available league tables of regional law firm pay for qualifying solicitors produces this roll call of those that Tube drivers wouldn’t even consider.

Of course, the big name City of London firms are still just about managing to outpace Tube drivers with their NQ pay packets. Nonetheless, hard-pressed, belittled and bullied first-year trainees might think that the Underground offers a less stressful option.

On the cash side, according to the Legal Cheek “Firms Most List”, only two US practices in the City — Davis Polk and Sullivan & Cromwell — offer more cash to trainees than Transport for London coughs up to Tube drivers. And their £50,000 salaries only beat the Underground’s starting pay by a fraction.

But arguably more enticing to trainee and junior lawyes slogging away at 60 to 70-hour weeks, will be the Underground’s shift schedules. According to today’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, Tube drivers on average do a 36-hour week — which is about one round trip on the Central Line.

The newspaper went on to report that in addition to relatively short working weeks, Tube drivers are entitled to bucket loads of annual leave — 43 days on average. For the avoidance of doubt, that’s more than two months of not having to get the Tube. And TfL throws in a free Oyster Card to boot.

So sod legal practice and start chanting “mind the gap”.

The post Top regional law firms that pay newly qualified lawyers less than Tube drivers appeared first on Legal Cheek.

Weird rituals were enacted at yesterday’s annual meeting of the body that represents solicitors

The 190-year old Law Society — the body that represents solicitors in England and Wales — is nothing if not traditional.

Portraits of its past leaders festoon the walls of its neo-classical headquarters in Chancery Lane. And at yesterday’s annual general meeting, outgoing president Andrew Caplen was presented with this image of himself squatting apparently rather uncomfortably on at the bottom of the building’s grand staircase.

The pose and expression make him look a bit like a man with a few spare copies of the Big Issue to shift. And indeed, the portrait itself came as a complete surprise to the property law specialist from high street firm Heppenstalls in Hampshire.

The painting was commissioned as a gift by the Hampshire Law Society, and painted by the artist with reference only to photographs and YouTube video.

Hampshire LS president, Ian Robinson, managing partner of Churchers Bolitho Way in Portsmouth, told Legal Cheek that the fee was confidential. However, and just in case Hampshire solicitors were wondering how generous they were, similar works by artist — local man Jonathan Tetley — go for around £1,500 a pop.

Far more interesting, however, was another tweet from Law Society council member Sundeep Bhatia, which appeared to show Caplen’s wife attempting to throttle the missus of his successor, Jonathan Smithers, the senior partner at another high street practice, Cooper Burnett in Tunbridge Wells.

Lynsey,Andrew Caplin's. Wife hands over badge to Jonathan Smithers wife @LawSocPresident pic.twitter.com/cWtDkL17P8

— SundeepBhatia (@SundeepBhatia2) July 9, 2015

But before Legal Cheek readers ring Scotland Yard, a Law Society official sent the reassuring message that Mrs Caplen was simply passing over the spouse’s gong of honour.

Now that’s tradition.

The post Meet the traditional Law Society man on steps — and the garrotted wife appeared first on Legal Cheek.

Anglo-German firm Taylor Wessing posts 87% retention figure, while London office of US giant Jones Day reveals it’s keeping all of its autumn qualifiers

The strong autumn retention trend continued today as Taylor Wessing and Jones Day revealed their autumn results.

Taylor Wessing — known for tech, IP and life sciences work — has announced today that 20 of its 23 trainees have opted to remain at the firm post-qualification, equating to a retention figure of 87%.

The 20 newly qualified (NQ) lawyers will start on a salary £61,000 and will be spread across several of the firm’s key practice areas.

Intellectual property, private client, private equity, tax and disputes and investigations will each receive two new lawyers. The remaining 10 will be spread across various departments including corporate tech, real estate, finance, corporate, commercial projects and employment.

The firm, which offers around 22 training contract opportunities a year, has seen a slight dip in its retention figure since last autumn, when it posted 91%.

Meanwhile, the London office of US giant Jones Day have announced that all of its autumn trainee cohort will remain at the firm.

The 15 trainees will begin life as NQs on a salary of £78,000, a full £8,000 more than their magic-circle counterparts at Clifford Chance.

The NQs will be shared amongst several of the firm’s departments, corporate taking the largest share, with six. Banking and global disputes will take two a piece, while the remaining five will be shared among real estate, tax, employment projects/infrastructure and financial institutions litigation/regulation.

Today’s news marks a notable improvement on the figure posted this time last year, when the firm kept 82% of its trainees.

Jones Day adds itself to an ever-increasing list of City firms posting perfect retention figures this autumn. In the past month White & Case, Shearman & Sterling, Sullivan & Cromwell and Weil Gotshal & Manges have announced 100% retention results.

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