For some reason, the public’s image of a lawyer seems not to have changed in the past hundred years or so. Even a high profile legal aid crisis can’t shift the negative way in which we are often perceived. This is not good. Even with Rupert Penry-Jones sexing up TV show Silk, Michael Fassbender on … Continue reading
Category Archives: Solicitors Journal
And the award goes to…all the (single) ladies
Some people might say that professional awards ceremonies are just an excuse for communal back-slapping and for legal journals to make some money, fill a few pages and sell advertising and sponsorship. I was one of those people and might be again next week, but for one night only I was happy to celebrate the … Continue reading
High definition – behind the scenes at ITV
I won’t be too upset if you haven’t seen me already, but I have recently become a bit of a TV star. Well, ‘star’ is perhaps pushing it slightly: I’ve been on The Alan Titchmarsh Show. Yes, he’s the gardener who sells apples for Waitrose. I didn’t realise he had a daytime show either -don’t … Continue reading
All the world’s a stage (or a life of P.I.)
It may have been ten years since I completed my training contract and last worked in a high street firm, but as I took my seat at the Donmar Warehouse theatre recently, all too many memories came rushing back. As soon as I entered, the vast set stood proud in familiar shades of magnolia and … Continue reading
A lawyer and a drug dealer are in a bar at the Glastonbury festival…
Kevin Poulter has a discussion about legal aid and learns some business acumen from the criminal underworld during a weekend in the West Country A tent in a farmer’s field, somewhere in the West Country, is not the most obvious place to happen upon a group of lawyers discussing the swingeing cuts being made to … Continue reading
The LETR of the law
The Legal Education and Training report contains much to be recommended but Kevin Poulter is not convinced it is as innovative as it should be for tomorrow’s legal services sector Like opening a present on Christmas Eve, receiving a copy of the Executive Summary of the long awaited Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) ahead … Continue reading
Could Atticus Finch save the justice system?
In our fight to save the justice system, what better role model to look to than Atticus Finch, says Kevin Poulter You don’t need me to inform you that the criminal legal aid system is undergoing a few changes at the moment. Barristers and solicitors from across the country have come together to protest in … Continue reading
The kids aren’t alright: the state junior lawyers are in
Ten years on from joining his local Trainee Solicitors Group, Kevin Poulter believes supporting young lawyers is more important than ever Some might say that life for junior lawyers has changed immeasurably over the past decade. But has it? The price of education has certainly ballooned, in terms of university costs, LPC/GDL fees and living … Continue reading
Will Legal Apprenticeships be a Bar to social mobility?
Kevin Poulter sees solicitors adapting to austere times and firms nurturing the very best of our future lawyers, but is the Bar prepared to do the same? Last month saw the sixth National Apprenticeship Week and the formal launch of the Higher Apprenticeship in Legal Services, supported by Skills for Justice and the National Apprenticeship … Continue reading
Charm and Disarm
The power of charm only gets you so far, as Kevin Poulter discovers On a recent trip up to Yorkshire, I listened in to a conversation in a café. Tuning in to my native accent, I watched and listened as an elderly lady, with blatant disregard for the reserved signs all over the table, sat … Continue reading
Kevin Poulter 