Powers of attorney

Posted by Justin on Feb 16, 2010 in Abaddons Musings, lawyers, legal system, risk | 0 comments Ordinary powers of attorney An ordinary power of attorney gives someone (the attorney) the power to act on behalf of someone else (the donor) subject to any restrictions or conditions contained in the power of attorney. A general power of attorney gives the attorney power over all of the donor’s affairs, except where the donor is a trustee and a trustee power of attorney is required. The problem...
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Speedy service

Posted by Justin on Feb 15, 2010 in Abaddons Musings, conveyancing, lawyers, professionals, service | 0 comments Even for ex-clients, we offer a speedy serviceWe acted when husband and wife bought a house together in 2006. They are splitting up, and he does not want to use us as we have acted for her on various transactions over the past few years. They have therefore gone to a “neutral” firm to handle the sale of the house.This morning, we received an email from the wife, asking for a...
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What does Google have to do with referral fees?

Posted by Justin on Feb 8, 2010 in Abaddons Musings, estate agents, lawyers, legal system, professionals | 0 comments “You don’t buy it with ads [or referral fees]. You earn it, and you earn it customer by customer, search for search, answer by answer.” – Eric Schmidt of Google on Fox Business News in 2009Despite that comment, Google chose to advertise during the televising of the Super Bowl on 7 February, so perhaps people’s views, or circumstances, or both, changeUntil very...
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Identity theft

Posted by Justin on Jan 19, 2010 in Abaddons Musings, lawyers, risk | 0 comments Boys & Maughan’s tips to combat ID theft are a useful, if on the whole common sense, reminder of how to avoid ID theft. One point that I had not recognised before is that company directors’ full names, home addresses (usually) and signatures (often) are available from Companies House. In addition, as it happens, so are their dates of birth – useful material for a...
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The price of justice

Posted by Justin on Jan 18, 2010 in Abaddons Musings, lawyers, legal system | 0 comments In the Guardian today, Marcel Berlins is delighted with the Jackson Report, expecting it to drive down legal costs – of civil litigation, anyway. Maybe it will, but I think he is unfair on lawyers.OK: legal costs are high; I don’t dispute that. However, to say they are disproportionate is, often, unfair. However small the claim, the lawyer running (or defending) it is expected to be...
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Do lawyers milk it?

Posted by Justin on Jan 17, 2010 in Abaddons Musings, cynicism, lawyers | 0 comments “An exact legal opinion on a claim could vary, depending on how expensive your lawyer is” – I read this recently (cannot now remember where) and thought, “How true!” Whatever the merits of a case, there will always be a lawyer willing to argue it – for a fee, of course.In a number of cases, this seems to be just to make money or because the client insists. Two...
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