Author: Catherine Bates

Anyone involved in business will know that their projects or plans can be affected (positively and negatively) by strategy just as much as by anything else. No matter how good your product is, you’ll never be successful if you don’t have a good marketing strategy. Those of you old enough to remember the start of home […]

Most parents and grandparents will be familiar with the idea that you always think of your children and grandchildren as being young. Both of my children are legally adults and have both (finally!) finished school. However, I still worry about them if they’re not home on time, as much, if not more than I did when they […]

With new technology comes new laws. For example, if you look back to when cars became more readily available, laws had to be introduced to regulate their production and driving, although you may be surprised to learn that the law setting an alcohol limit for drink driving wasn’t set until 1967. As transport continues to […]

I have a bit of a reputation. Not just for drinking! Although it is one of my fortes. And not for my blogging! Although I do love how many people come up to me and tell me how much they enjoyed the last blog and how much it made them laugh! I am also quite well known […]

Everyone knows I like a drink! Even my mother knows, although I’m sure she believes I exaggerate my drinking exploits – thank goodness she doesn’t read this blog! You probably also know how much I like a good legal argument – I don’t mean an argument that is legal, but an argument over the legalities […]

That sounds like a very simple statement but sometimes working out what’s yours and what’s mine is not as straightforward as it sounds. You may think that this is going to be about divorce, but actually it’s a situation that applies more to business than (dis)pleasure! That is because there are all kinds of obligations […]

OK, let’s face it, I’m short.  Even in heels I barely reach most men’s shoulders.  My children (both boys, both taller than me from a young age) think it’s hysterical to put things on high shelves so I can’t reach them, especially when I make them empty the dishwasher. For ages I wasn’t the smallest […]

One of the first tips I give to our new paralegals is to remember that when they send an email or a letter, they may know who it is going to, but they don’t know who might read it. They don’t know, for example, that it might not be sent to someone else in error. […]

We all know the phrase about things not being over until the fat lady sings. But sometimes, even once she’s finished her tune, things are still not over. If you’re at the Opera, then you’ve still got to do the standing ovation, get out of the theatre and get home, hopefully via some good food […]

Some of my contacts will be old enough to remember the game show that included people guessing the name of tunes based on a clue and a few notes. Being tone deaf (could not carry a tune in a bucket – my childhood piano teacher is still in therapy) I always marveled at the talent of […]