By the way | Singing from the same sheet

I’ve always liked to keep my hand in with court advocacy. I enjoy the buzz of court appearancesl; it helps maintain a true connection with your caseload. I cannot be doing with these firms who are unable to make a single decision without referring everything to counsel. This dramatically slows cases down and rather makes a mockery of the solicitor’s own worth.

I recently represented a client at a case management conference, which will not sound at all intimidating to the litigators ?out there. However if I then add that the hearing was listed for two hours (we were in fact at court for over five hours) and that there are nine parties to the litigation, a more accurate picture should begin to appear.

Back to law school

When I checked in at the court’s reception, my name was added to a growing list of representatives and the usher did a great job of putting names to faces, which facilitated various pre-emptive discussions about each party’s desired directions. The list of law firms in attendance read rather like a ‘Who’s Who’ of professional negligence specialists.

There were 16 people in attendance before the judge, over half of whom addressed the court. While the proceedings could have descended into something of a bun fight, they instead progressed methodically and with little interruption. Some minor disagreements between various parties, and matters on which certain individuals sought to dwell, were quickly dealt with by the judge. He was keen to set a sensible timetable which would allow sufficient time for procedural issues to be ironed out, and for documents to be retrieved from far ?flung sources.

The case reads a little like a law school examination question, with the practical problems under consideration including the merger of firms since the cause of action arose, the bankruptcy and also death of some former partners who undertook the work, making the identity of the correct defendants less than straightforward.

The claimant’s solicitor kicked off the proceedings by confidently addressing ?the judge as ‘my lord’. His lead was ?not followed by the next advocate, who went for ‘your honour’. I reverted to ‘my lord’ for each of my moments in the ?judicial spotlight.

This is a simple enough issue but one which can find you in a whole heap of trouble if you get it wrong and the judge is already having a bad day. My advice would always be to try and establish the correct mode of address in advance. There is a section on the Judiciary of England and Wales’ website (www.judiciary.gov.uk) entitled “What do I call a judge?” which is useful if you have any doubt. If that is not possible as you cannot find out who you ?will appear before in advance, then I urge you to err on the side of caution. It is less offensive to give someone a more important title than is in fact theirs, rather than the other way around. The judge in our case ?did not react to any of the various modes ?of address, but ‘my lord’ was correct, as ?he is a High Court judge.

Proof of identity

Away from the high pressure environment of a court room mobbed with opponents, my team had a rather wild night out a couple of weeks ago. We started fairly sensibly, with a couple of civilised cocktails, and then progressed to dinner with some more cocktails and a little wine. By the end of the evening we found ourselves in a karaoke bar in Manchester’s Chinatown, which disconcertingly required each guest to provide photo identification on entry. ?One of our number enquired about the length of time for which they would retain our details - you can tell we’re lawyers. The answer was 24 hours.

Although the continued flow of drinks assisted everyone in relaxing sufficiently to croon into a microphone in front of their colleagues - a thought which I find utterly cringeworthy by daylight - we did manage not to trash the joint or break the very complicated song-retrieving computer, meaning that our retained I.D. has not led to the police tracking any of us down, at least not to my knowledge. The only question now remaining is how to better that on the various forthcoming Christmas dos.

Xmas slow-down

On the subject of festivities, the party invitations are starting to roll in, and next month looks set to be as hectic as always on the out-of-office hours front.

Rather less usually, however, a certain number of my cases look likely to require some serious work during the course of the month; I have a consultation with leading counsel and a provisional mediation in ?my diary already. I saw in some recent ?post a listing for a trial in the few days between Christmas and New Year, in ?Exeter of all places, which I was pleased did not display my reference. It seems that the days of the courts slowing down for a couple of weeks as we see in the New Year are long gone.

I am myself planning a decent break ?over the festivities. I have also organised ?a couple of advance shopping days, designed to avoid the crowds and any last-minute panicking. I will however join the throngs a few times, as I enjoy the atmosphere - and gluhwein! - of Manchester’s Christmas markets, which have already started trading.