Christmas grotto elf, haunted house scarer, life drawing model and even a bouncer! The path to legal practice isn’t always smooth sailing, with some lawyers pursuing very unconventional routes before eventually finding their way into the profession. Legal Twitter has exploded with tales of lawyers’ unique paths into law. Using the hashtag #5JobsIHad, solicitors and barristers last night revealed the five jobs they held prior to their current post, and Legal Cheek has rounded up some of the best. It wasn’t all paralegals and legal assistants as you might think. Rachel Law, criminal barrister at Goldsmiths Chambers, is a case in point. Proving that varied life experience is just as important as having stellar academic credentials to bag a career in law, Law revealed she held posts as a “medieval wench”, “Christmas grotto elf” and “haunted house scarer” before finding her place at the bar.
This was something fellow barrister Emmanuel Goldstein knows too well. “It’s vitally important, imho [in my humble opinion], for people entering the practice of law to have practical, real world experience outside of it,” he tweeted, before revealing his experience extends to “bouncer”, “book store clerk” and even “maître d’”!
Also sharing their top five unique career journeys were Dan Herman, partner and Leeds office head of litigation outfit Stewarts, and Ceri-Ann Taylor, solicitor at specialist medical negligence firm Enable Law.
Laywers LegallyShort and CrimeGirl, who both tweet under an alias, shared their particularly unsual pathways to the profession:
Chris Bowman, an associate at personal injury firm Minster Law tweeted he had previously worked as a fireman
While Kate Murray, a solicitor specialising in medical negligence at Minton Morrill Solicitors revealed her five includes working at the checkout at supermarket chain Asda. “I still hear the beeping now ” she quipped.
Barman/barmaid, singer, waiter/waitress, shop assistant, sports coach and even “glass picker” made an appearance on some lawyers’ extraordinary CVs:
Summing up the series of tweets, Owen Franks, commercial property solicitor at Ashtons Legal, commented that “they show how varied the legal profession has become”, whereas before, “solicitor” and “partner” would be the only roles featured.
Feel free to share your #5JobsIHad in the comments section below. The post #5JobsIHad: Social media trend sees lawyers reveal unusual previous careers appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/04/5jobsihad-social-media-trend-sees-lawyers-reveal-unusual-previous-careers/
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Exclusive: The law school has apologised for the mix-up The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has launched an investigation after a seating plan “error” resulted in a number of Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) students at BPP Law School sitting an exam in what some have likened to a “canteen”. BPP has since apologised for the mix-up. Wannabe barristers across the country sat an ethics exam, one of several assessments centrally assessed by the regulator, on the afternoon of April 8. However, Legal Cheek can reveal a number of part-time BPP students turned up to London’s ExCeL Centre where the exam was scheduled to take place at 2pm, only to discover they weren’t listed on the exam seating plan. Exam invigilators attempted to rectify the blunder by hastily preparing an additional room nearby to accommodate the students in question — which unfortunately only led to further problems, according to our insiders. One anonymous source described the extra room as a “canteen” with “glass walls which meant we had the full distraction of passers-by”. Meanwhile, another insider claimed the exam started over 30 minutes later than scheduled and that the room was so cold students were forced to wear their winter coats. “By the time the exam started most of us were frazzled and upset by the experience”, they told us. Responding to the complaints, a spokesperson for BPP told Legal Cheek:
The BSB confirmed it was investigating, with a spokesperson telling us:
The post BSB investigate after BPP ‘error’ left some BPTC students sitting ethics exam in ‘canteen’ appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/04/bsb-investigate-after-bpp-error-left-some-bptc-students-sitting-ethics-exam-in-canteen/ Victor Kruchinkin described former flame as a ‘gobby ethnic from Zone 8’ after she ended relationship A junior solicitor has been handed a community order after he sent a string of abusive messages to a woman he met online, including one in which he claimed he only had sex with her to punish her for “being fat and for having saggy t*ts”. Victor Kruchinkin, who at the time was a lawyer at Adams & Remers Solicitors in Pall Mall, London, described Christiana Amao a “gobby ethnic from Zone 8” via Facebook after she called time on their brief relationship, CourtNewsUK reports. Southwark Crown Court heard how they met through the dating app Bumble in December of last year and met on two occasions before Amao ended things. According to the report, 32-year-old Kruchinkin then sent a number of messages to Amao, including one in which he said she was “lucky to still be alive” and another where he described himself as a “psycho”. In a further message, he reportedly wrote: “I f**ked you as punishment for wasting my time, for being fat and for having saggy t*ts, for having a loose p***y and for being overweight.” Property law specialist Kruchinkin, who was admitted to the roll in January 2018, is said to have told Amao he’d created a false Facebook account to seduce her and she would never be able to trace him, the report adds. Kruchinkin was arrested at work in January after Amao reported the messages to the police. In a statement read to the court, Amao said: “I was unable to leave my house for the first few days for fear he was around the corner. I was extremely worried he would try and take my life. I believe that the crime was motivated by race because he used the N-word.” The lawyer admitted a charge of persistently making use of the public communications network to cause annoyance or anxiety. The report reveals Kruchinkin was originally sentenced to six weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, along with 100 hours unpaid work and 25 days of rehabilitation activity. This, however, was later reduced on appeal to a 12-month community order, 100 hours of unpaid work and 15 days of rehabilitation activity. A restraining order that previously barred Kruchinkin from contacting Amao was also lifted. Kruchinkin’s barrister, Tahir Ali, told the court: “He [Kruchinkin] did make a veiled threat. He met her on a dating website and he shared a night of intimacy with her. In relation to whether this offence was racially aggravated, it is my submission that it was not.” Ali explained that Kruchinkin was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome which meant “he has a propensity to speak his mind without thinking through the consequences”, adding: “That may explain why Mr Kruchinkin wasn’t able to hold himself back — quite strange for a solicitor who worked for a commercial firm in the City.” A spokesperson for the Solicitors Regulation Authority told Legal Cheek: “We are investigating before deciding on appropriate action.” For a weekly round-up of news, plus jobs and latest event info Sign up to the Legal Cheek NewsletterThe post Community order for junior solicitor who sent Bumble date abusive messages appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/04/community-order-for-junior-solicitor-who-sent-bumble-date-abusive-messages/
In an interview with Nancy Gibbs at the TIME 100 event on Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he wished his company's fight with the FBI over the ability to unlock an iPhone had actually gone to court. "Our battle was over whether or not the government could force Apple to create a tool that could put hundreds of millions of people at risk in order to get into a phone — and we said no, the law does not support the government having the authority to do that," Cook told Gibbs. In December 2015, the FBI obtained an iPhone 5C from one of the two perpetrators behind a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, that killed 14 people and injured 22 others. Police killed the two attackers in a shootout, so the FBI was unable to get into the phone it recovered, as it had a 4-digit passcode enabled. The NSA was unable to unlock it, however, so the FBI asked Apple to help build a new operating system that could be installed on the phone and disable its security features — something Tim Cook called at the time the "software equivalent of cancer." Apple opposed the order, citing the security and privacy risks it would pose to other customers, and a hearing was scheduled for March 22. But just one day before the scheduled hearing with Apple, the government said it found a third party that could help unlock the iPhone, and delayed the hearing. The FBI formally withdrew its request to Apple one week later. "I wish that case went to court, to be honest," Cook said on Tuesday. "It was dropped the day before, and now after the Inspector General reports have come out, our worst fears have been confirmed: that it was a very rigged case to begin with." The Inspector General report Cook alluded to, which was published in March 2018, mentioned how "there were misunderstandings and incorrect assumptions" among people working on this case at the FBI, and that Apple's involvement wasn't actually necessary in the first place. The FBI has a Remote Operations Unit (ROU) that's responsible for handling mobile devices like these — and this is the same unit that ultimately figured out how to unlock the shooter's iPhone — but the FBI failed to get the ROU involved before issuing its order to Apple for assistance. "This was not the government's finest hour," Cook told Gibbs. "I have personally never seen the government apparatus move against a company like it did here in a very dishonest manner. I felt like the naive guy that thought these things didn't happen. They were trying to prevent a discussion or a dialogue or a debate about this. I hope that we've advanced much further than that." Cook said privacy has become much more meaningful to mainstream Americans now, and reaffirmed Apple's stance on why it's so important. "In the world where everything is totally open, people begin to guard what it is they will say. Think about where society goes if we're afraid to tell each other our opinions — if we're afraid that somebody's listening, or watching, or monitoring, or we're under surveillance. This is a bad thing inherently in a very broad way, not to mention the manipulation that can go on with pitting different groups against each other." You can watch Cook's whole interview with Gibbs from the TIME 100 event below (Cook's portion begins about 45 minutes into the video, since the event is still ongoing). SEE ALSO: Apple will help rebuild Notre-Dame Cathedral after its massive fire, according to CEO Tim Cook DON'T MISS: The 20 best iPhone tips and tricks to make your life easier Join the conversation about this story » from https://www.businessinsider.com/tim-cook-apple-fbi-san-bernardino-very-rigged-case-2019-4 Makes a real hash of her career A junior solicitor has been handed a six-month suspension after a small cannabis farm was found in her home. Lancashire-based Michelle Davis escaped being struck off by a disciplinary tribunal after the panel accepted that the drugs weren’t hers. Davis, 37 this year, qualified as a solicitor in 2012. At the time of the drug bust she worked for Adnan Hanif Solicitors in Nelson, Lancashire. But her career took a turn in 2017, when police discovered a “well set up, but modest in scale, cannabis farm” in a bedroom at Davis’s address. The crop was worth between £11,000 and £16,000. Davis, however, insisted that the dope belonged to her husband. She had “played no part in the setting up, cultivating, producing or growing of the cannabis”, which was not intended for resale. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) agreed, dropping most of the charges in exchange for David pleading guilty to permitting the production of drugs on her premises. At Preston Crown Court, Judge Parry sentenced Davis to a community order rather than prison, but commented that “as a result of this conviction no doubt you will be [struck off]”. Davis told the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) that she fully accepted her wrong-doing and had “let people down including myself”. Meting out a six-month suspension, the tribunal noted that Davis was not a “complete novice as a solicitor”, but had ‘fessed up to the conviction and hadn’t been dishonest. There were, the panel said, plenty of mitigating factors in the “one-off episode” for which Davis was genuinely remorseful. It also noted that no clients were harmed in the episode. The post Solicitor escapes with suspension over ‘modest’ cannabis farm appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/04/solicitor-escapes-with-suspension-over-modest-cannabis-farm/ Placement roles in global outfit’s London office up for grabs as part of four-year law degree The University of Exeter has teamed up with US giant Reed Smith to launch a new LLB with an innovation-focused placement year in the firm’s London office. The four-year ‘legal placement’ degree is available to Exeter’s existing first year law students, who will be the first to participate in the “immersive” City placement, expected to take place in the 2020/2021 academic year. The new degree aims to prepare students for increasing “growth in legal innovation and technology”. In particular, the course will address how tech-led change is altering the role of judges and lawyers; in addition to how tech can be used to widen access to justice, such as through online courts. Students will then have the chance to put this knowledge to practice while working in Reed Smith’s London office — which is the largest of all 28 offices across the globe. During their time students will be sat within two of the firm’s practice areas and, with the support of their innovation hub and tech teams, will focus on designing new and improved ways of delivering legal services. For now, up to five students from Exeter Uni will be chosen for the placement, which also comes with a guaranteed invite to Reed Smith’s training contract assessment day. If successful, candidates will have bagged one of the 25 training contracts currently offered by the firm each year. It remains unclear how much participants will be paid during their 12 months at the firm. Professor Sue Prince, from the University of Exeter Law School and director of the programme, said:
This is the second time that Reed Smith has partnered with a Russell Group university to design a bespoke law degree. As reported by Legal Cheek, the US-headquartered firm teamed-up with Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) in 2015 to create a four-year sandwich degree — known as the ‘Law in Practice LLB’– that also included a placement year in Reed Smith and a guaranteed training contract interview. Lucy Dillon, chief knowledge officer at Reed Smith, commented:
The post New innovation LLB sees Exeter Uni students spend a year at Reed Smith appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/04/exeter-uni-joins-forces-with-reed-smith-to-launch-new-innovation-focused-legal-placement-llb/ Anita Nicholson confirmed dead, alongside her two children, while husband, a partner at Kennedys, survives A British corporate lawyer and her two children were among hundreds killed in the Sri Lanka attacks over the weekend. Anita Nicholson, managing counsel at Anglo American, a multinational mining company, and her two children, Alex, 14, and Annabel, 11, were fatally wounded in the bombing at the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. Anita’s husband, Ben Nicholson, a partner in the Singapore office of international law firm Kennedys, survived the blast. Anita, 42, studied law at the University of Leeds and spent two years at DLA Piper, before joining the Treasury as senior legal advisor. The Singapore-based lawyer joined Anglo American in February, according to her LinkedIn. Ben, 43, confirmed his wife, daughter and son had been killed as they sat at a table for breakfast on Sunday. In an emotional statement, Ben paid tribute to his “wonderful” wife and children. He said:
The statement continued: “Alex and Annabel were the most amazing, intelligent, talented and thoughtful children… They shared with their mother the priceless ability to light up any room they entered and bring joy to the lives of all they came into contact with.” The death toll from the wave of bombings targeting churches and hotels has hit 310, including eight Britons, local police have said. For a weekly round-up of news, plus jobs and latest event info Sign up to the Legal Cheek NewsletterThe post British corporate lawyer killed in Sri Lanka attacks appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/04/british-corporate-lawyer-killed-in-sri-lanka-attacks/ Several new awards up for grabs as part of expanded funding programme BPP University Law School (BPP) has ramped up its scholarship offerings for the forthcoming academic year, with more than £1 million in funding now up for grabs. One of the new prizes on offer is the Lord Holmes Scholarship, which is awarded to students who demonstrate a “unique and inspiring legal career journey”, “overcoming obstacles” or providing an “outstanding contribution to charitable causes.” Named after the chancellor of BPP University, Lord Chris Holmes, a former lawyer and Paralympic swimmer, the scholarship covers the full cost of the successful applicant’s postgraduate law course. Other full fee awards up for grabs for the first time this year include the Dean of the Law School Scholarship, aimed at wannabe lawyers who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement, and the Future Leader Scholarship, available to students who show drive, ambition and outstanding leadership. BPP’s rival, The University of Law (ULaw), also offers a substantial scholarship fund. Its full fee postgraduate awards include the Sadiq Khan and the Baroness Sayeeda Warsi Set for Success Scholarship, aimed at applicants from less-privileged backgrounds. Meanwhile, City Law School will dish out up to ten full fee and 100 partial fee prizes for the upcoming academic year. These are awarded on the basis of academic excellence. Rounding off BPP’s new and improved prize list for this year are the Vice Chancellor and Pro Vice Chancellor Scholarships, full fee awards exclusively open to members of BPP’s LLB cohort who make outstanding contributions to the BPP student experience. The legal education giant also offers a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) scholarship for science students in partnership with the STEM Future Lawyers careers network. Explaining how scholarships can provide a vital financial lifeline to students who would otherwise be unable to pursue their legal dreams, current Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) student, Niamh Ingham, said:
The law school confirmed that up to 200 Career Commitment Scholarships, worth £2,000 each, will also be dished out to the runners-up in each award category. Andrew Chadwick, dean of BPP Law School, added: “The law is one of the most competitive sectors for graduates — and that isn’t going to change. However, we hope these targeted awards will help those with the ability, potential and drive to achieve their ambitions, regardless of their background.” The post BPP Law School scholarship fund exceeds £1 million for the first time appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/04/bpp-law-school-scholarship-fund-exceeds-1-million-for-the-first-time/ The top legal affairs news stories from the Bank Holiday Teenage Extinction Rebellion protester “dragged by police” is “seeking legal advice” [Metro] Google Chrome could swerve new UK porn block law for all users [The Sun] Lawyer killed in Sri Lanka attacks [Sky News] US Supreme Court to decide whether bias law covers gay and transgender workers [New York Times] UK companies cut money set aside for legal claims [Financial Times] A woman has accused India’s most senior judge of sexual harassment [BuzzFeed] Polly Higgins, lawyer who fought for recognition of “ecocide”, dies aged 50 [The Guardian] Barristers, solicitors and paralegals urged to join single trade union [The Guardian] Court rules Chelsea Manning must stay in jail for refusing to provide testimony in WikiLeaks case [Gizmodo] Eve Cornwell reacts to Kim Kardashian studying law [YouTube] Thread: A genuine question, how “good” are the law departments of said big four firms? [Legal Cheek Comments] General release tickets on sale for the Future of Legal Education and Training Conference 2019 [Legal Cheek Events] Win a return transatlantic flight to New York City in Legal Cheek and BARBRI’s vlogging competition [Legal Cheek Noticeboard] The post Tuesday morning round-up appeared first on Legal Cheek. from https://www.legalcheek.com/2019/04/tuesday-morning-round-up/
A group of Microsoft employees are speaking out to support an online protest in China over grueling, 12-hour workdays that organizers say are unhealthy, illegal and increasingly common. About 20 Microsoft employees signed an open letter published on Monday in support of the so-called 996.ICU project in China. Tech workers in China started the 996.ICU project in March on code-sharing website GitHub, which is owned by Microsoft. The numbers 996 refer to the concept of working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. Such hours, the workers say, are illegal in China even though they say many employers in the country expect it of their workers. The name 996.ICU refers to an ironic saying among Chinese workers: "工作 996,生病 ICU" or "Work by '996', sick in ICU," as in the intensive care unit of a hospital. The 996.ICU project is a repository of what is allegedly evidence of these working conditions, as well as a new software license designed to advocate for workers' rights. More specifically, any software project created under the terms of this license cannot be used by companies that break labor laws, per the language contained therein. Monday's letter was signed by 50 tech employees altogether, including several from Google, urging Microsoft and GitHub not to remove the 996.ICU project from the GitHub site. Already, Chinese browsers from Tencent, Alibaba, and others have restricted or blocked access to the 996.ICU project, the Microsoft employees' letter said. "We, the workers of Microsoft and GitHub, support the 996.ICU movement and stand in solidarity with tech workers in China. We know this is a problem that crosses national borders. These same issues permeate across full time and contingent jobs at Microsoft and the industry as a whole," the letter said. CensorshipThe 996 schedule has become a controversial topic. Jack Ma, the cofounder of Alibaba, recently described the 996 schedule last week as a "blessing" for young workers, according to Reuters. A Microsoft employee who wished to remain anonymous told Business Insider that employees started this petition because they were concerned that Microsoft may be facing pressure to censor the project, in the wake of the alleged moves from Tencent and Alibaba. "We must entertain the possibility that Microsoft and GitHub will be pressured to remove the repository as well," the letter said. The Microsoft and GitHub employees who wrote the petition want to make sure that the project to keep the project remains uncensored and available to all, especially in China.
' Developers outside China have supported this project as well. In less than a month, this project has garnered over 2,500 contributions from 533 developers. The project has also been starred nearly 230,000 times — a way for GitHub users to show their support or interest for a project. Standing in solidarityPooya Parsa, an open source developer from Iran, helped translate the project to Persian. He said a "996" schedule is not common in Iran, but he has previously had experiences with overworking. "I used to work on such schedule for 1 to 2 years which made serious health problems to me and stopping to pay attention to other daily living matters like family, body health and even improving programming skills," Parsa told Business Insider. "Forcing or even allowing developers to work on such schedule may help short-term success but it finally takes creativity, innovation, and motivation from them." With this letter, employees hope to make a larger statement on labor standards around the world. "Another reason we must take a stand in solidarity with Chinese workers is that history tells us that multinational companies will pit workers against each other in a race to the bottom as they outsource jobs and take advantage of weak labor standards in the pursuit of profit. We have to come together across national boundaries to ensure just working conditions for everyone around the globe," the letter said. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: A recent Harvard study found men who wore boxers had about 25% more sperm than those who wore briefs from https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-github-employees-stand-up-censorship-china-996-work-schedule-2019-4 |
AuthorHi I am Alana Smith 35 years old living in New York. I am working as an assistant in local law office. I like to share legal news with people to educate them. Archives
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