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Memories of Justice

A couple of years ago I organised “A Wake for Justice”  and gathered some anecdotes from the legal professions in Yorkshire to show what legal aid lawyers really do.  Please add your own and share or gather your local stories and publish them where they may be more widely read:

Memory #16

We had a client who was charged with death by dangerous driving. He was a refuse collector and in poor weather he had reversed his lorry into a telegraph pole causing it to break and fall.  His co-worker and best friend had been on the street supposedly guiding the lorry.  He had gone out of sight and the telegraph pole fell on him and sadly killed him.  The client denied that he was driving dangerously and after a great deal of preparation, numerous experts reports and a trial (all publicly funded) he was acquitted.  An unfortunate case but justice prevailed!

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The Sound of Silence – Learning to Enjoy Interviews

Good interviewers will use a pause or silence to see how candidates respond. In my experience it is one of the most powerful interview techniques. In some situations silence is golden yet in others it can make you feel very uncomfortable. Interviews can be highly stressful situations and time either seems to fly, or grinds towards a halt at the worst possible moment.

So how do you manage silences in interviews?

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The Next Tango in Halifax – Luxury Skimming Stones

Artist, inventor and designer Dominic Wilcox came to Creative Calderdale and presented some of his unique work. He gave us an insight into how he develops his ideas and his creative work. He opened with the classic truism from Leonard Cohen “If I knew where ideas came from I’d go there more often”.

At the bottom I’ll share a link to his website as it is simply brilliant.

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Blog, Staple Stories

“The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes”

Back in 2013,  I started wearing my Red Kickers to all my business meetings. I now understand there is some research from Harvard Business School indicating that wearing red shoes enhances perceptions of status and competence: Washington Post. Anyhow below is the story of when I bought my first pair.

I’ve never had any real fashion sense but was very fortunate that I grew up in London and just before I was going to university Dicky Dirts had a closing down sale. I walked into a scene of carnage as I entered the shop – I think it could have been a record for how many people you could cram into per square foot of shop. People were wandering around with arms full of merchandise with glazed grins and wide eyes scanning for more bargains.

I quickly found a couple of pairs of jeans, a few shirts, a duffle coat, some brown cord dungarees (I know!) and a size 10 red Kickers left boot – the holy grail. Now where was the right one?

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Staple Stories

Tough Love and Why I Loathe Scrambled Eggs

Back in 1980 I ended up in Dundee on an Outward Bound course with a cross-section of c50 other young people. On this course we didn’t climb mountains or ford rivers, instead over three weeks, we faced some of the very real challenges that exist hidden in our communities. I experienced 4 placements including: intermediate treatment (pre-borstal): a psychogeriatric ward; decorating the home of an MS sufferer; and most dauntingly- a ward with about 25 patients where the highest mental age was c18 months.

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JAC Application Forms – Stand Out from the Crowd

From many years of experience and working with numerous candidates you may find something useful below.

Allow sufficient time and schedule your writing of the form in bite size chunks. Typically, from scratch, a good form can take up to 16 hours of your time.

Seek advice from successful candidates from previous competitions and ask to look at their forms. Review your previous forms. Check out tips and advice on websites.

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A Bottle of Orange Squash – Balancing the Books

When I was a student I worked as a volunteer in a hospice serving drinks to the patients and their relatives. One morning I went into a room and met a young mother who was clearly 30-40 years younger than any of the other patients. She asked me if I would buy her some orange squash and as I was back in the next day I readily agreed.

That afternoon I went to my nearest supermarket and bought the best and most expensive bottle of orange squash. The following day I went back to the hospice and gave the bottle to the woman. She asked me to take the money from her purse and I explained that it was fine and was a gift. I then stupidly had an argument with this dying young woman about who should pay for the orange squash.

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Coming Crisis

I recently learnt  that the Chinese symbol for “crisis” is represented by the two Sino-characters for “danger” and “opportunity”. Is that why I have heard such contrasting views from two highly respected business leaders this week?

In October, as part of the ILF I heard Duncan Bannatyne almost preach that “now is the time to start a new business”. Yet the following day at Leeds Business School I heard David Scott present an overview of our debt crisis and share his view that “Europe may be on the brink of a 10 year depression”.

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