There have recently been two half-hour programmes on BBC Radio 4 on which members of Outer Temple Chambers speak about their working lives.
There is particular emphasis on the impact of the 2007 Legal Services Act, which is about to liberalize the legal services market.
The programmes can still be listened to online, even outside the UK.
Business owners try (successfully) to stave off being wound up:
‘It aint our fault, the stoopid court froze the bank account so we cuddent pay the stoopid bill could we, but we done it today some’ow like’
The other director chipped in ‘Yeah, our account is managed by the banking equivalent of Mr Bean’
Everyone looked at the judge. Possibly because these two guys looked as if they meant business and would beat up anyone who would disagree with them.
The judge looked up ‘I am afraid that you will find that the whole British banking system is being run by the equivalent of Mr Bean!’
From an entry about winding up day at the law courts in London by Swiss Tony.
Another entry on the same topic by Paranoid Pupil.
Having today already been confronted with ‘Sehr geehrte Kolleginnen und Kollegen’ addressed to persons outside Germany, I am wondering about ‘Mit kollegialen Grüßen’, but that’s easy: ‘Yours sincerely’ (at least in British English).
Michael Kadlicz in Wiener Neustadt – is that still Vienna? – received this from a fellow-lawyer:
Sehr geehrter Herr Kollege Mag. Kadlicz!
Aufgrund eines bedauerlichen Versehens habe ich bemerkt, dass in der letzten Nachricht in der Schlussformel das Wort “kollegiale” Grüße nicht aufgenommen war. Ich bitte dieses Versehen höflich zu entschuldigen, wie Sie mich ja bereits kennen, bringe ich Ihnen selbstverständlich die volle kollegiale Wertschätzung entgegen.
Ich zeichne mit
freundlichen kollegialen Grüßen
Not really translatable, I’m afraid.
If I were registered to comment at twoday.net, I would comment on the first sentence. Is it the regrettable oversight that the writer noticed his omission? Translators tend to correct this kind of thing.
I love the firm’s website – must have changed since I last saw it. Blog.
In 2006-2007, Bryan Garner interviewed eight of the nine Justices about legal writing and advocacy. These are the complete interviews. Because the files are large, the videos may take a few moments to start playing.
LawProse is making these interviews available as a public service. Anyone may freely use these videos for educational purposes, with appropriate attribution to Bryan Garner or LawProse.
Fürther Nachrichten reports that the local court judge (Amtsrichter) Werner Schultheiß, who is retiring on April 1, would like to drink beer with his colleagues. Those in charge are not prepared to relax the total ban on alcohol in the Fürth Amtsgericht building, so he is going to court – to the administrative court in Ansbach, where the case will be heard on March 20.
Zum Abschied will Werner Schultheiß (64), Amtsrichter in Fürth, der am 1. April in Pension geht, nicht nur leise Servus sagen, sondern auch mit den Kollegen anstoßen. Das darf er gerne tun – solange in den Gläsern Wasser oder Limo schwappt. Alkohol ist in den Räumen des Amtsgerichts nämlich tabu. Dagegen hat der streitbare Richter Klage eingelegt.
Am 20. März steht nun vor dem Verwaltungsgericht in Ansbach die Verhandlung «gegen den Freistaat Bayern wegen Hausrecht« auf der Tagesordnung. Mit einem Antrag auf eine einstweilige Anordnung will Schultheiß, der am Registergericht tätig ist, ein «Biergebot« durchsetzen.
Above the law reports this exchange by Blackberry at Dewey & Leboeuf:
From: Ralph C. Ferrara
To: DL All Attorneys – US
Cc: Ferrara, Ralph C.
Sent: Mon Dec 17 11:00:29 2007
Subject: German Translation – CompletedDear All,
Thank you for your many quick responses [to a request for translation of a German document]. The translation has been completed.
Regards, Ralph
______________From: Stephen A. Best
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 11:02 AM
To: Ferrara, Ralph C.; DL All Attorneys – US
Subject: Re: German Translation – CompletedZieg Heil!!!!!!
Sent from my Blackberry Wireless Handheld
This led to great excitement in the comments both there and on The Volokh Conspiracy.
Interesting that you write to all attorneys to get a German translation.
Thanks to Ed. at Blawg Review for the tipoff)