Legal 500 recommended

We're delighted to learn this morning that for the first time we've been recommended in the commercial litigation category by Legal 500. The Legal 500 series is a highly regarded independent guide to the top law firms. It provides comprehensive worldwide coverage on legal services providers in over a hundred countries and is used by commercial and private clients, corporate counsel, CEOs, CFOs and professional advisers as well as by other referrers of work both nationally and internationally. Recommendation is a valued endorsement as the only way a law firm can get recommended is merit alone: if the researchers think it's good enough for inclusion.

Law Awards of Scotland 2013

We've been nominated in two categories in this year's Law Awards of Scotland: Litigation Firm of the Year and Sole Practitioner of the Year. The organisers explain:

"The Law Awards of Scotland is the premier event in the Scottish legal calendar. A gala formal event where the legal profession’s brightest minds and finest practitioners celebrate the accomplishments of those firms, organisations and individuals who have achieved excellence in the profession in Scotland."

Modesty means we couldn't possibly comment, but entry to the Awards is by invitation only, following research conducted amongst peers and clients, so it's doubly gratifying to get through to the finals in September. 

Direct marketing by text: have you consented?

In the September 2014 independence referendum, voters in Scotland will answer the question: "Should Scotland be an independent country?". Between now and then, there's a long campaign of persuasion, for both sides. Each will of course try to get its message out to as many potential voters as it can and will use social media and other modern forms of communication as well as the more traditional door-knocking and leafleting. There is, however, disquiet at the moment from some who are unhappy at having received text messages from the anti-independence "Better Together" organisation. According to the office of the Information Commissioner, the issue of "[s]pam texts...continues to be the one of the biggest concerns to consumers" and things have reached the point where Better Together has felt compelled to post an explanation on its website, aimed presumably at the potentially disgruntled. As Better Together recognises:

"I’m sure that the most obvious question you will have if you have received this message is ‘where did they get my mobile number from?’"

Now you might have thought their hopes would have been higher than that. Perhaps "Thanks for the message; what can I do to help your campaign?" Leaving aside the wisdom of persisting with a marketing campaign that has to have at its heart a page to mollify those who have been upset by it, what about the law of all this?

Better Together explain:

May you live in interesting times

It turns out that the "ancient" "Chinese" curse my be neither. Though quoted by Robert Kennedy in a speech he gave in 1966, no original, Chinese language version has been found. But beyond doubt, Scottish lawyers live in a time when there is interest in interest. The wheels of justice grind slow. Today, all commercial litigators know that a creditor who raises proceedings is entitled, as of right, to seek interest on the sum sued for, to reflect that fact, amongst others: "together with interest on that sum at the rate of 8 per cent a year from the date of citation to follow hereon until payment" is a phrase that most will have in any style initial writ (though some of us will be old enough to remember changing that "8" from the earlier "15"). What is less well-known is that this right is a relatively new one.

A worthy cause

When a client asks you to help the video for his charity single to go viral, what are you going to do? Especially when it's for the Dog's Trust, features Jimmy Chisholm, Billy Boyd, John Barrowman, and Paul Riley, is produced by Alyson Orr and appears to be have been shot at the Tron Theatre Bar (though it's been a while so we may be wrong about that last one)?

 Watch it here.