Lawyers are rubbish …

Posted by Justin on Jan 9, 2011 in Abaddons Musings, conveyancing, cynicism, lawyers, legal system, professionals | 2 comments … well, too many of them are, anyway. We often wonder why we get so many irrelevant or unnecessary additional enquiries from buyers’ conveyancers (including solicitors). In the last couple of weeks, the answer has dawned on us: not only have they not read the paperwork we already sent them – they don’t care. They want us to answer their own standard questions; they then...
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Adding value

Posted by Justin on Jan 5, 2011 in Abaddons Musings, conveyancing, estate agents, lawyers, legal system, professionals, service | 0 comments I am told by those who know more about this sort of thing than I do – marketing people, mainly – that the “value dimensions” of a business depend on it displaying one or more of the following – product leadership operational excellence customer intimacy True or not, it provides food for thought Product leadership Hmm … that’s a difficult one for lawyers,...
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9 ways to choose a lawyer

Posted by Justin on Jan 2, 2011 in Abaddons Musings, accountants, communitarianism, conveyancing, estate agents, lawyers, legal system, local, professionals, service | 0 comments Some thoughts on how to choose who should handle your legal work for you – mainly focused on residential conveyancing, but of  relevance to other fields as well:1. Listen to personal recommendations: If you are moving home, speak to friends and family who have moved home recently. If you have a commercial transaction or need other business-related legal help, speak to your accountant....
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Never sign without reading

Posted by Justin on Jan 1, 2011 in Abaddons Musings, lawyers, professionals, service | 0 comments Everyone knows, I hope, how important it is to read – and understand – documents before signing them: once signed, they are legally binding on you, and consumer protection legislation will only come to the rescue of the foolhardy in very limited situations.This applies to all sorts of documents: contracts, terms of business, even letters and, of course, WillsIt therefore surprises me...
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Who are our competitors – and which worry us?

Posted by Justin on Dec 30, 2010 in Abaddons Musings, communitarianism, conveyancing, lawyers, legal system, local, professionals, risk, small towns, Tenterden, Weald | 0 comments As “High Street” solicitors, who tend to handle local work for local people, it might be thought that our main competitors are other, similar “High Street” solicitors – I think notAlthough there is competition between us and other local firms, we do not see them as an existential threat (oooh! Big words!) On the whole, they tend to have the same philosophy of...
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Free e-books and audio books

Posted by Justin on Dec 29, 2010 in Abaddons Musings, books | 0 comments My sources for free e-books and audiobooks are -Project Gutenberg:Google E-bookstoreInternet ArchiveOpen LibraryMany BooksLibriVox (audiobooks)Can anyone suggest any more?PS: I omitted one of my favourites: Memoware
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