“Good drafting more important than SRA rules, say clients”

Posted by Justin on Nov 5, 2014 in Nelsons' Column | 0 comments According to Legal Futures – Consumers and businesses believe that drafting “legally accurate and effective” documents is a more important quality of a competent solicitor than following professional rules, a major study has found. The study, carried out by consultants BMG Research for the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), involved 503 individual consumers, 204 businesses and 1,070...
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Joint ownership – what kind of joint owner are you?

Posted by Justin on Sep 21, 2014 in Nelsons' Column | 2 comments Joint ownership of property continues to be the most popular subject for people who phone “out of the blue” with questions. The enquiries come from all over the country – last Monday, it was an enquirer from Dorset; on Friday, from the Wirral. My original post on the subject is here: joint ownership I wrote a couple of follow-up posts: one and two The latest question to crop up...
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Blind faith

Posted by Justin on Sep 19, 2014 in Nelsons' Column | 0 comments Blind faith in your lawyer is not only unwise, it simply does not work: you need to own (and so understand) your deed (what you are doing) – if, for instance, you sign a Will without understanding it, it is not your deed and is not effective. This is why clarity is important. Don’t believe a lawyer who says, “Don’t worry about it – trust me that this document means...
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Taking on a new business lease?

Posted by Justin on Sep 9, 2014 in Nelsons' Column | 0 comments The commercial property market seems to be picking up, and I have had a spate of instructions to act for tenants taking on new, short business leases.  Often, they come to me with “heads of terms” proposed by the landlord’s letting agent, and which they have meekly accepted as though carved in stone, missing the best opportunity to get the lease on favourable – or, at...
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What is a lawyer?

Posted by Justin on Mar 5, 2014 in Nelsons' Column | 0 comments Since I ceased to practise as a solicitor – and have explained that to people – it is clear they are baffled by the different types of lawyers and the distinctions between them. To start, I reckon that anyone who earns their living in the law, whatever specific lawyer they are, is “a lawyer”: judges, barristers, solicitors, legal academics, licensed conveyancers, legal...
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