The quietest week we’ve had on the redundancy front for a while and along comes the sad news of two celebrities dying in one day to cast a cloud. Farrah Fawcett, ’70s pin up and star of Charlie’s Angels probably got some partners’ hearts racing back in the day but her passing might not be quite as well remembered following the news of Michael Jackson’s death. Whatever one thought of the King of Pop, celebrities don’t come much bigger.

The big news in law this week was Pinsent’s outsourcing of litigation work to South Africa. Following Rio Tinto’s decision to directly outsource work to India there is justifiable concern amongst the junior ranks of the profession as to where this will lead. This and the downturn are of course related and have conspired to make things look particularly bleak right now but, lets face it, not everything can go offshore. Partners will always need junior lawyers at hand so it’s not an apocalyptic change, rather one that may gradually remould the shape of law firms. Only time will tell how drastic the effect will be.

Earlier this week we had an amusing tale of an American lawyer who tried to use the novel excuse of his Beemer being so awesome he didn’t realise he was totally rinsing the speed limit. For those of you who have felt the pain of speed-trap induced points plus a fine or even a ban, here is some schadenfreude for you. Tom Riall, 49, senior executive at Britain’s biggest speed camera firm was banned from driving for six months after police officers recorded him driving at 102.92mph on the A14 near Newmarket, in Suffolk. Mr Riall is head of Serco’s home affairs division, which has installed and managed speed cameras at more than 4,000 sites around Britain since 1992. Sweeeet.

And just before you disappear for the weekend, for those of you planning a boozy one, here is a cautionary tale. Larry Wilder, a lawyer for the Jeffersonville City Council (Indiana, USA), has resigned following the release of photographs of him sleeping in a garbage can after a night of drinking (yes that is the actual photo of him above which has spread all over the internet). The incident angered many Jeffersonville residents, who complained about a high-profile lawyer for the city found in such an embarrassing situation. "I felt that the best thing for my friends was to eliminate this on-going angst," said Wilder. Source via ATL

Enjoy your weekend.

Responsibly!