By the way | Word nerd

I love words. I met a new one last week on the tram into work, as a newspaper’s front page carried a shot of Johnny Depp with the caption that he looked suitably “crepuscular” at the premiere of his new vampire movie. I was intrigued by the word but have to confess that I forgot all about it as I entered the office and my day at work began.

The following day a reader in the same newspaper asked whether he was the only person who had needed to consult a dictionary. It spurred me on to do the same and I now understand that it means ‘pertaining to twilight’ or likely to appear at twilight, which of course makes perfect sense in a vampire movie context. I feel better for having now properly expanded my vocabulary and am looking for opportunities to utilise my new favourite word, but I’m thinking they’ll be fairly few and far between.?Years ago my pet word was ‘pernicious’, but again I struggled to pepper everyday conversations with it. I also used to take delight in the phrase ‘diametrically opposed’, which appeared as my trademark in virtually every English literature A-level essay I wrote. At least that one is likely to come in useful on occasion in my job.

Speaking of diametric opposition, I headed to court last week for a case management conference (CMC) on a file that I do not manage on a daily basis and was thus not as comfortable with all of the facts as I would like. I therefore immersed myself in it and nothing else for a time before heading down to court, trying to anticipate what a zealous judge might like to know and ensuring that I would at all costs avoid uttering that legendary ‘it’s not my file’ phrase.

My plan worked well. The other side sent counsel, a decision that flummoxes me every time a firm local to the particular court makes it on a standard hearing such as a CMC. In any event, she was most affable and we had a good chat outside about the matters on which we were agreed, and those on which we weren’t so much. Battle lines drawn, we were called before a judge I had not previously met who had read the papers and was indeed interested in the case. We parried a number of questions between us before the judge was happy to start setting a timetable towards trial. Now came the contentious issue.

My learned friend wanted to see the parties race headlong into a trial within the next couple of months, and rather glossed over the fact that we had not yet completed inspection of documents nor exchanged witness statements. My client, on the other hand, was looking for a more standard and realistic timetable, and the judge made it clear that he was firmly in agreement with that. With this in mind, I was rather bemused to watch the barrister ask not once or even twice, but three times whether the judge would reconsider his position as her client was keen to see the case progress at pace. It was like watching as someone repeatedly pokes a stick at a sleeping lion. Fortunately, no limb from limb mauling followed as the judge calmly reiterated that the trial would have to take place later in the year, and we all left the courtroom ?on friendly terms and in one piece.

Day at the races

On a lighter note I have just spent a day at the races with my team and numerous clients. We left Manchester in a minibus bound for York at 9.30am and I was presented with a mini bottle of cava and a bendy straw about five minutes into the journey. I immediately decided that pacing myself ought to be high on the agenda.

We had a private box at York, which is a really lovely racecourse. The weather didn’t really oblige but equally it didn’t tip it down, which I think we’ve almost all come to expect of our British summers following last year’s washout. The food was delicious and the wine and bubbles flowed throughout the day. I backed two winners, two second-placed horses and one that finished last by a mile (you can’t win them all) and hedged my bets with a cowardly each way every time.

As I committed the princely sum of £4 to each race I think many colleagues and clients were bemused by my feverish excitement as they approached the line each time, but I was delighted to have gone armed with £20, which I was willing to lose, and come away with a whole £23.18.

Last of the big spenders I am obviously not, but everyone had an enjoyable day milling around and chatting, with the horses and their jockeys a charming backdrop to a successful day out of the office, even without blazing sunshine. ?I must, however, confess to feeling a little jaded just now (it’s my day off before anyone snitches on me) as I’ve calculated that the pop was flowing for around 11 hours yesterday. Indeed looking in the mirror at the moment, I could even be considered crepuscular.

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Catherine Burtinshaw is a solicitor at Kennedys (c.burtinshaw@kennedys-law.com)

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