Peace be with them

In case any readers of this column have been losing sleep over my recently reported caseload events, I am pleased to advise that the matter which appeared to have stalled yet was hurtling towards trial at a rate of knots, has finally settled. Cue sighs of relief from all corners, with just final tweaking of draft orders now remaining outstanding.

In direct contrast, another case is due to start a two and a half day trial in London in less than a week. It remains fairly labour intensive but should soon become much less so as the trial bundle is due to be filed at court by our friends acting for the claimants tomorrow. Speaking of the opposition, they have this afternoon sent four separate letters by email in less than an hour and a half, meaning that the fee earner writing to us can be working on nothing else. It is, of course, sometimes necessary to write more than one letter to the same party in a day, usually because some issues need to be addressed in open correspondence and others form part of without prejudice negotiations. In this case however, all four letters have been written on an open basis, and each was sent by high priority email.

Deep breath

Surely it would be better to take a few deep breaths, gather one's thoughts and write one comprehensive letter, perhaps with separate sub-headings, dealing with all the relevant points which arise on a particular day? Perhaps it is a cunning pre-trial litigation tactic to attempt to flood the opposition's email servers and bring the firm grinding to a halt.

In the meantime, the parties' respective barristers have been conducting a satellite boxing match, copied to their instructing solicitors. One adopted an extremely bullish writing style in a chain of emails between them, omitting niceties such as starting the email with the standard 'Dear' address, or ending with 'Regards'. The other barrister signed off late one evening by saying that as their exchanges did not seem to be progressing matters he was calling it a day. Over an hour passed before a two-word email was sent in reply. It simply said "Peace Bro". No response followed - how could it possibly? It's certainly one way to ensure that you have the last word.

Away from the desk, attempts to compensate for sedentary office lives and find one's inner zen seem to be ramping up somewhat. I work in a team of 14 people. I would estimate that you will always find at least one gym nut or gym bunny in such a number, but here the fitness bar seems to be set way higher. I have colleagues who workout six days per week or regularly participate in triathlons and marathons. There is a British Military Fitness aficionado who recently competed in 'Tough Mudder' and even one who has undertaken two Iron Distance challenges in the past four months. I cannot resist the temptation to add that all of these individuals are ladies, thus showcasing some extremely serious Girl Power.

In an effort to up my own game, therefore, I have added to my rather conservative fitness regime by starting to attend a spinning class before work one day each week, increasing my own weekly gym attendances to two, or three with a fair wind. I've managed two consecutive weeks so far, and am determined to make this a standard fixture in my routine even as the winter draws in. This will be no mean feat as I am about as far from being a morning person as you can imagine. The first five minutes are dreadful and '¨I just want to stop the world '¨and get off, but it does improve as I slowly wake up. Best of all, the satisfaction (aka smugness) of knowing that you've already ticked that exercise box '¨before even logging on is '¨one I would recommend.

Until next month, Peace '¨Out. SJ

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