The Week: Love's Labour's Lost, PII Renewal Date Passes, wine and sofas steal it
Ok so we won’t offer any more puns on the Sun going down on Labour but there is a bit of legal-political mix that deserves attention this week. One of Labour’s crowning acheivements was completed yesterday with the formal opening of the Supremely expensive Court (estimates vary between £70-100m depending on the accountant). The President of the Supreme Court, Lord Phillips said: "This is the last step in the separation of powers in this country." And he wasn’t referring …
Ok so we won’t offer any more puns on the Sun going down on Labour but there is a bit of legal-political mix that deserves attention this week. One of Labour’s crowning acheivements was completed yesterday with the formal opening of the Supremely expensive Court (estimates vary between £70-100m depending on the accountant). The President of the Supreme Court, Lord Phillips said: "This is the last step in the separation of powers in this country." And he wasn’t referring to Murdoch clan deserting Labour.
Whilst the highest lawyers in the land were revelling in all that pomp and ceremony, at the bottom end there has been exasperation in the run up to the PII renewal date (also yesterday). The Gazette has covered the issue of rocketing premiums and the gathering fallout for some time. This culminated in a statement being issued by the Law Society on Wednesday, (the Law Soc has been accused of not doing enough to help small firms) to "set the record straight". Here is an extract from the Gazette :
We are very much aware of the problems faced by some practitioners, particularly sole practitioners and small firms in obtaining PII this year, either for reasons of cost or through not having received a quote at all…
The Law Society is charged with "letting this happen" and being asleep on the job. Nothing is further from the truth.
Making a statement boatload of excuses (valid or not) the day before the deadline does not seem to have had the desired effect judging by the number of comments the Gazette received in response. We get the impression that the mailroom at the Law Soc may be a little swamped over the next few weeks.
As for being asleep on the job, they at least did more to help themselves than this dozy idiot. A would-be burglar in Cambridge failed to finish his crime after he broke into a house, drank a bottle of wine and fell asleep on a sofa reported the Metro on Tuesday. Now that’s an excuse. As criminal acts go it sounded immensely stupid and strangely relaxing at the same time.
Thankfully it’s the weekend, enjoy your wine and sofa.
Chancery Lane responds to PII concerns – statement from the chief executive [The Gazette]
October 2, 2009
The handling of the PII situation has been disgraceful. The Law Society has only started to make any sort of helpful noises in the last few weeks. Too little too late for many.
October 2, 2009
News International is the Supreme Court.