Author: Catherine Bates

  If you hear the sound of trotting outside… don’t assume it’s a horse because it could be a zebra. Ok, I know it’s fairly unlikely to be a zebra, so assuming that it’s a horse that you can hear is fairly reasonable, but if experience has taught me anything it’s to never take things […]

  Today I’ve had two young men fighting over me. You may think that’s normal, but since my youngest son turned 10 it’s not been as common as it used to be. The two young men in question were on a central line train and were arguing about who was going to give their seat […]

    I was bought up believing in the mars venus principle.  That the reason for many arguments, divorces and possibly even wars was because men and women don’t understand each other.  They speak a different language. I no longer believe that. Or rather, it’s not about men and women specifically.  It’s that PEOPLE don’t […]

  I know that lockdown was a disaster for some, and a blessing for others. Some have spent years building up businesses only to see them destroyed over night by closures. Others have reaped the benefits of people being stuck at home needing their goods and services. I’m probably somewhere in the middle. For me […]

Some improvements don’t always make things better and in some cases, we actually make it harder. I’m old enough to remember what the litigation world looked like before the Court Procedure Rules were introduced in 1999.  I know I don’t look it, but that’s just down to a great beauty regime, not to mention regular […]

I’m a big fan of incorporation! I chose not to set up my own law firm until it was possible to do so as a limited company and I actively encourage my clients and contacts to incorporate their businesses at the earliest opportunity.  Not only do I think it looks more professional to be dealing […]

  Lots of things are better if you wait for them. I’m really looking forward to taking my 16 year old son on holiday this summer to celebrate the end of his exams, and I have no doubt that a part of my excitement is that this will be my first trip away in over […]

  You never think of posts as being dangerous, unless, of course, they are either falling on you, or saying something extremely controversial that’s going to land you in trouble. But on this occasion, I’m not talking about a block of wood or something you’d find on social media. This time I’m talking about email […]

As grounds for divorce go, this was probably one of the most unusual.  I’ve never heard of a war as causing the breakdown of a marriage, and certainly not a war that neither party had had any direct involvement in.  My client and his soon to be ex wife were middle class hard working people […]

I’d reached a point in my professional career where I didn’t think anything could surprise me anymore. To be fair, having been in the industry for over 30 years it does take a lot to raise even one eyebrow, let alone two, but today was one of those exceptions. Today I was asked for my […]