Category: News

Although perhaps that should be shhhhhhhhhh***t! If you’ve ever done any negotiation, you should be familiar with how without prejudice negotiations work. It’s what your opening comment or sentence should be when you speak to or write to the other side if you want to be able to say something that you wouldn’t want repeated […]

I’m a big fan of settlements and negotiations. That is NOT because I’m afraid to go to Court (far from it!). What I am afraid of is that no matter what the outcome, it’s extremely difficult to get an order that the client is going to be happy with. No matter how well we do […]

It’s an old saying, and if we were just talking about property investment, then over the long term you’d probably agree. Whilst the property market does dip from time to time, over a sustained period, it should be a good investment. However, nothing in my world is ever that straightforward, and there may still be times […]

I’m used to things being missing in my life, both personal and professional. In my personal life, I have missed many things. At the top of my list are sleep, sanity and alcohol. The last one is particularly brutal as (for those of you who don’t know) I’m just recovering from surgery where I had to be […]

When your kids are little, you don’t need to be a detective to know when they’re not being honest with you. If they were the only one in the room when the vase got knocked over, it’s unlikely it was the wind. If they are the ones who are especially partial to chocolate, it doesn’t […]

A few years ago, when I was a teenager (ok maybe more than a few) I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, which is not really that uncommon. So I tried out various different things, including working for a few organisations that provided help with children in various different guises, such […]

You might think that that is a reference to how fast I talk – if you’ve ever met my kids, you’d know that if I didn’t talk fast, I’d never get to finish a sentence. Or it could have been a reference to my drinking – how fast did you go through that bottle and […]

I often talk about the unpredictability of law and especially litigation. It’s about as certain as knowing whether my son will call me now that he’s moved to attend Birmingham university (to, ironically, study law!). There are so many variables such as whether he was out all night, who is down the pub, whether his […]

A good claim has many parts. Good paperwork is an advantage although obviously not essential. Good witnesses are hugely beneficial, but their absence won’t automatically derail your claim. If you are claiming something like a breach of contract, obviously you have to show that there has been a breach. However, possibly the most important aspect […]

My kids always used to tell me how things were unfair. It’s not fair that they had to clean their teeth, but they both have great smiles now! It’s not fair that they had to do their homework, but at least one of them has made it to uni. It’s not fair that they had to go […]