Daily Diary

LawSoc returns to the dark ages

Posted 12/02/2007 by The Daily Diary

The legal profession was plunged into confusion today (12 February) when a number of vital institutions were hit by a dramatic power cut in Holborn (see harrowing report here).

But enough of Dave’s Newsagent - also affected were the Law Society and the Bar Council, which prematurely sent home those early birds among staff who had already made it in to work by 11am.

The disaster was apparently caused by a flood – an actual, watery flood, rather than the more usual flood of abuse about the society's complaints arm – and resulted in the failure of key equipment such as the office kettle, automated abacuses and power-assisted quills.

At the height of the panic, grave warnings from senior LawSoc officials about the impending legal aid apocalypse dropped by 90% to just 14 every hour.

Tellingly, The Diary understands that workers were dismissed with nary so much as a consultation, review or feasibility study, suggesting that the water must have been literally lapping around the executive’s earlobes.

Over at the Bar Council, a spokesperson showed off the body’s Blitz spirit by soldiering on long enough to reveal that “urgent ethical enquiries can still be referred to the Bar Press Office” – a safe pair of hands for regulating an opaque and esoteric profession if ever there was one.

Meanwhile, speculation continues that the whole episode was merely a dress rehearsal of keeping Chancery Lane in the dark for when the Legal Services Board is finally up and running.