Spaghetti trees at the SRA

24 Mar 2009|Feature|Add your comment

April Fool's Day didn't really feature in my life until 2002 when some friends produced their first child, a son. My husband was highly amused by this perceived social faux pas and wove into his otherwise congratulatory phone call to the new dad the immortal phrase â€œIt could only happen to you, Simkin.â€

Not so. Those who embrace karma will be unsurprised to hear that precisely three years later, we had our first child. Cue relentless banter along the lines of 'Back at you, Burtinshaw.'

~~Tales of country folks~~

April Fool's Day originated when we all switched to the Gregorian calendar in the 16th Century. Instead of celebrating each year at the start of spring, as had been traditional, King Charles IX of France decided that New Year's Day would be on 1 January. In the days before technology enabled instant communication around the world, this information took some years to disseminate to more rural areas where the villagers continued to celebrate their new year on 1 April. They were considered backward by everyone else and ultimately labelled 'April Fools'.

Some people now mark the day by playing practical jokes (only before noon, mind). Newspapers often like to join in, printing stories which leave you wondering whether all is quite right with the world. Examples from last year include The Sun reporting that the French President Mr Sarkozy was to undergo pioneering height increasing surgery to enable him to grow five inches taller and so look his former supermodel wife in the eye. Meanwhile, The Daily Express informed us that Big Ben's face could be replaced with a digital time display.

Perhaps the most famous ever April Fool's Day jape was pulled off by Panorama in 1957, when they convinced many people in Britain that spaghetti '“ which was at the time a most exotic food on our shores '“ grew on trees in Switzerland! Richard Dimbleby voiced the 'documentary', which lent it huge gravitas and it is believed that the film, which showed people 'picking' spaghetti strands from the trees and laying them in the sun to dry, was the first time television was used as an April Fool's hoax medium.

I am aware of two significant events which will take place on 1 April this year outside my home. They are my firm's party to officially open our new Manchester office in Piccadilly Place, and the Solicitors Regulation Authority's Regulation Road Show in Manchester. What a day for the SRA to have picked to host something so serious.

~~The SRA's no joke~~

The SRA's chairman Peter Williamson will himself be present and they are even having a focus group immediately afterwards so solicitors can air their views direct. This is an exciting opportunity for all in the profession, and particularly for those like me who specialise in professional negligence, risk and regulation. Local solicitors should have had a flyer about it '“ email events@sra.org.uk to book your place.

So what is the SRA to us? What does it do? What happened to the all-powerful, all-encompassing Law Society?

Just to recap in case anyone has been asleep these past two years: the SRA regulates and disciplines solicitors, while another organisation (currently the Legal Complaints Service) handles complaints against the profession, meaning that The Law Society can now concentrate on representing us and lobbying on our behalf. This actually makes much more sense than the old school way of The Law Society trying to play on two opposite teams '“ handling public complaints while advising and assisting solicitors '“ and remaining independent from both.

The above huge change happened just two years ago, but don't think you're up to speed there as the future is set for a further big shake-up. From next year the Office for Legal Complaints will come into being as an independent ombudsman service for consumer complaints, replacing the LCS. Its board has recently been appointed in readiness and features some intellectual heavyweights from our own profession.

Does the public understand our regulatory present and future? I very much doubt it. I don't believe that many members of the profession itself have time to get a proper handle on it. I am up to speed both because it's part of my job and as the arrival of my second daughter into the world (who incidentally missed a Friday 13th birthday by just 11 minutes) meant that the Code of Conduct was still fairly shiny and new when I returned to work, giving me an opportunity to properly digest its content. I doubt that many other solicitors have had that luxury, as they tend to be otherwise engaged clocking up chargeable time, entertaining clients with a view to clocking up chargeable time and profile raising with a view to'¦you get the picture.

Enjoy April Fool's Day this year, whatever you get up to. Look out for fantastic newspaper stories and if you're local to Manchester, maybe take a couple of hours out to attend the SRA's Road Show. It's at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel so you could perhaps treat yourself to a bowl of five-star tree-grown pasta afterwards.

Legal News desk contact: editorial@solicitorsjournal.com|

Not so. Those who embrace karma will be unsurprised to hear that precisely three years later, we had our first child. Cue relentless banter along the lines of 'Back at you, Burtinshaw.'

~~Tales of country folks~~

~~The SRA's no joke~~

So what is the SRA to us? What does it do? What happened to the all-powerful, all-encompassing Law Society?