Advanced Law Diploma thingy!

I've been "doing teaching" this week , it was the first time I have worked on this course, in fact the first time this course has run. And boy it was hard work. It was presented in a "team teaching" format, which involved in effect being a group tutor from 9am to 7pm for 3 days.

My head hurts. I'm not sure I can remember my name now let alone any law.

College life is fundamentally not meant for grown ups. Being in a group that big for that amount of time constantly, and meals and the bar after .....I found exhausting! And the little turrent room that I had, whilst cute, was basic in the extreme, less "en-suite" , more "en-cupboard".

Will write more next week when head back on shoulders!

I wanna be sedated!

I spent Friday afternoon in hospital having tests , laproscopes and stuff, just to make double triple sure that I don't have cancer. And, as we pretty much knew, I don't, - excellent.

The sedative was amazing, knock out drops WITH muscle relaxant, the knots in my shoulders have gone completely and I slept for two days. I think litigators should get a six monthly shot of this stuff on the NHS!

Clients don't really get the concept of "I'm in hospital" and were still hopefully ringing my mobile at 8pm on Friday night!

I'm away teaching on an advanced law diploma for most of this week. So, see you Friday.

Kate Moss

"Kate Moss!" screams the fashion press, "what a style icon, what a goddess!"

I think the whole thing is a bit Emperor's New Clothes, and one day a little boy at the back of the crowd is going to say in a very loud voice "Mummy, aren't those men funny all taking pictures of that raddled old hag!"

And Kate, as one raddled old hag to another, it's not such a bad life, but you don't need the Botox nearly so often if you stop smoking.

Siblings

When asked I will tell you something vague about my brother being "in security".

The truth is that , as we speak, he is hunkered down in the bush with an ousted African president being shot at by half the Madagascan army.

He's a jammy sod my little brother - but today he really , really , really needs to be.

A Day at the Races

On Friday we headed off to the Gold Cup Meeting at Cheltenham. So here is Lippy's on course guide to a day at the races;

First of all check the form;

Then stick on some slap so that you don't frighten the horses!

Getting to the course on time helps!

Check out the runners in the paddock and see if there is one that you fancy. You might also get to see the Queen..

Fight your way through to the bookies and have a bet.

Then watch the race - only I didn't get any good pictures of that I was too busy jumping up and down and shouting. Although I did pick the winner in the first race the final score was Lippy - 1 Bookies-6

Oh well.

There is no getting away from the fact that Cheltenham on Gold Cup day is rammed, with the crowd pretty evenly split between Essex boys with black shirts and Grant Mitchell haircuts and those found drunk in charge of an Irish accent! I don't really quite understand why it is such a boys day out, with suited and booted blokes out numbering the women about 15 -1.........well I suppose those are slightly better odds!!!

Litigation 101

Well here on planet legal it's all happening.

There are definate trends and waves in the sorts of proceedings before the courts. To put things in perspective before we start, the sort of work I do - business and property disputes - is a minority interest. Over 60% of the work of the county court is family proceedings - divorce and children actions. When economic times are bad divorce courts are extra busy. I don't do that sort of work as it gives me hives but when the courts are full of family work (which gets priority) it means that my clients wait longer for cases to be heard.

Anyway on the menu today we have;

Bankruptcy - only available to a creditor where the debt which is owed is undisputed. So we have a debtor trying to manufacture a dispute in order to avoid a petition and it's my job to put together the evidence to show that his so called "dispute" is merely fanciful and has no basis in either fact or law ( and yes I am planning to use that in my submissions, I think it's aposite!)

Application to set aside Default Judgement - if you ignore a court claim form your opponent gets judgement by default and the baliffs still appear at your door regardless of how the judgement was obtained (so sticking your head in the sand is not an option). In this case though the proceedings were served at some seemingly random address which has no connection with the debtor company - so we're asking to court to set it aside, strike out the action and give us costs. Which won't please the PLC on the other side will it?

Claim for Unpaid invoices - about £130k's worth. At the moment if your opponent can pay it's worth having a judgement debt as the interest rate is 8% pa which is more than you will get anywhere else.

I need to get the desk clear by end of the day tomorrow as I'm off to the Cheltenham Festival on Thursday - hurrah a day off! Can't wait.

I'm sort of dreading writing this post as Tickers is going to say "I told you so" - I've felt knackered since I got back from London last week, couldn't put one foot in front of another. I finally ended up in hospital yesterday and came back with a new inhaler and huge antibiotics, I've apparently been walking around in the throes of a major asthma attack and a chest infection for about a week..........I thought I felt a bit rough.

Added to this the business has spent rather more than it has earned over the last two months - quite a lot (the tax bill, the VAT bill ) has been absorbed by savings and even more is the huge annual items like law books which are annual editions at between £500 and £1000 a time. It's a bit worrying but I think it's turned the corner, I don't owe anything I just don't have much of a float any more.

And the financial arises just when I want to spend some cash going to Hydrabad for a wedding. My best friend's cousin's wedding to be precise. The TB (my toy boy husband to save you scrolling down to the bottom of the blog for a translation) is not keen on such a big spend on travel right now. My best friend on the other hand is desperate that I go to India. I can just see this panning out in a way that means I am in trouble with both of them.

Right - chargable time is ticking away, timesheets await! Onward! - do I need to blog about all that stuff ?!

Busy

Everyone seems to be crazy busy which is good - me too. Worked in London end of last week, 7am starts, 8pm finishes - and not all of it chargeable unfortunately but you have to lay the ground work with clients , so there it is.

I couldn't get through to the Fox to book a room and ended up in the Malmaison. It's a lovely looking hotel but christ on a bike the beds are hard. It was that "hall of residence bed" experience , where you sit down on the bed too quickly and it's so hard that your spine almost jars out through the top of your head! Ouch ! I slept, but only, I suspect, because I was completely shattered .

Luckily, as I was off to Starbucks I met the manager of the Fox and Anchor who had had an empty room on the nights I was stuck in the hard bed - so bless him I now have his direct line so it won't happen again. Hurrah!

I also got my make up done in Harvey Nicholls by the lovely Eddie on the Trish Mcavoy stand which was fun - and confirmed that all the colours I already own are the right ones.

And it's Lent and I've given up two of my favourite things for the duration - bread and booze, 5 days in and it's going OK , I even fished the croutons out of my soup!