Author: Louise Restell

• Law for all?
  Posted on February 28, 2013 by Louise Restell
  Sometimes I think people forget what the law is for. There are lawyers, I am afraid to say, who think the law is there so they can make a living, a very good one in some cases. Government ministers seem to think it is either a drain on the public purse or a means through which liberal trouble makers can block or upset their policy initiatives. And some newspaper columnists seem to think it’s only for the educated.
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  Posted in: justice system, courts
  Tagged: Vicky Pryce, juries, courts, legalese, legal jargon, jurors, lawyers, judges
• Lessons about justice from the trial of Oscar Pistorius
  Posted on February 20, 2013 by Louise Restell
  I was one of those lucky enough to be in the Olympic stadium on 8 September last year to watch Oscar Pistorius win his emotional gold medal in the 400m. Well, it wasn’t entirely luck, I had applied for tickets for that session precisely because I wanted to see him race. It was an incredibly stirring event and one that banished memories of his unseemly tantrum the week before, which I’d also been there to see.
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  Posted in: uncategorised
  Tagged: Oscar Pistorius, jury trial, South Africa, contempt of court, Vicky Pryce
• Where there's a will there's a way, isn't there?
  Posted on February 15, 2013 by Louise Restell
  Unless you are a lawyer, or some strange legal hanger on, the news that the Legal Services Board (LSB) has formally asked the government to regulate will writing has probably passed you by. Most normal people do not think about regulation (although I confess I have no evidence for this assertion) and if they do, they probably assume it is already there. They aren’t likely to waste valuable minutes reading about it when the future queen of England has been snapped in only her bikini.
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  Posted in: Consumer rights
  Tagged: consumers, will writing, regulation, LSB, Consumer Panel, wills
• What do you call a job without pay or employment rights?
  Posted on February 12, 2013 by Louise Restell
  Being forced to work in Poundland may not be very nice, but equating it with modern-day slavery is probably exaggerating. On the other hand, it’s quite reprehensible for an apparently reputable and successful business to employ people to do jobs that need doing and not pay them anything at all, even if the government has asked them to. It’s exploitation, even if the Court of Appeal couldn’t say so.
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  Posted in: Employment law
  Tagged: Cait Reilly, Back to Work, slavery, Poundland, Frances O'Grady, shares, employment rights
• Let children behave like children
  Posted on February 7, 2013 by Louise Restell
  It’s been a while since I’ve had a go at insurance companies, but sometimes they make it so easy it’s impossible not to comply. Their adverts might try to make you think they are there in your hour of need, indeed the prime minister thinks they are, but don’t be fooled by the smiling nodding dog, insurers will do their best not to pay up when you need it most.
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  Posted in: Justice System
  Tagged: Bethany Probert, Churchill, insurers, age of criminal responsibility, contributory negligence, personal injury
• Resolutions for 2013
  Posted on January 29, 2013 by Louise Restell
  I know I’m a bit late. I know you already have some, most of which you’ve probably forgotten or are at least ignoring. I know the start of the new year seems an awfully long time ago. But it is still January (just) and because my last post was about complaints, I thought it would only be fair to give you a chance to avoid them. Most should be glaringly obvious, but you’d be surprised.
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  Posted in: Consumer rights
  Tagged: complaints, fees, legal services, lawyers, consumers, jargon
• Can't complain, won't complain
  Posted on January 27, 2013 by Louise Restell
  We Brits like to complain. We are renowned for moaning about the weather (with good cause), unreliable trains (ditto) and bad service in restaurants (quite often ditto). Mostly, however, the complaining comes to naught because it is done in private to our family and friends and nowhere near the people who might be able to do something about it.
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  Posted in: Consumer rights
  Tagged: consumers, complaints, legal services, lawyers, regulation, legal ombudsman, OFT
• There's still room at the top
  Posted on January 23, 2013 by Louise Restell
  Looking for part-time, flexible work is not as easy as it should be in this day and age, unless you want a telesales job or to act as a rich Hampstead lady’s personal assistant (not that there is anything particularly wrong with either). I know we are in a recession and all that, but you’d think people would want to have top talent for less than their annual entertainment budget.
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  Posted in: Employment law
  Tagged: flexible working, gender equality, working mothers, lawyers
• Domestic violence victims deserve more than this
  Posted on January 17, 2013 by Louise Restell
  I’ve never heard of Edward Furlong, but he doesn’t sound like a very nice chap. Having been charged with battery twice at the end of last year he has been arrested again for allegedly attacking his girlfriend. He’s also been sued by a previous girlfriend for ‘assault’ and has been banned from spending time alone with his six-year-old son. If I weren’t already very unlikely to watch his films I’d now make a point of boycotting them.
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  Posted in: justice system
  Tagged: domestic violence, refuge, domestic assault, Rhianna, Chris Brown, Edward Furlong, LASPO, legal aid cuts
• Now that's what I call progress: Lessons lawyers should learn from HMV
  Posted on January 15, 2013 by Louise Restell
  My first LP was Rio by Duran Duran. At least, that’s what I like to tell people, conveniently overlooking the Bucks Fizz album I had bought a year earlier. Before then most, if not all, of the music I listened to was recorded onto cassette tapes from Sunday night’s Top 40 on Radio 1, complete with inane voiceovers and sudden pauses. To be honest, I can’t remember if I bought it in HMV, but I know I didn’t buy it on the internet because it barely existed.
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  Posted in: Consumer rights
  Tagged: HMV, Jessops, Comet, lawyers, high street, law firms, legal services liberalisation
• Brassed off about bailiffs
  Posted on January 9, 2013 by Louise Restell
  Some movies scenes you never forget: the shower scene in Psycho, which had me checking behind the shower curtain for years; the opening of Jaws, which made a generation terrified to get in the swimming pool; Bobbie’s father walking through the steam in The Railway Children that still makes me cry and want to give my dad a hug; the heartbreaking sequence of the girl’s red coat in Schindler’s List.
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  Posted in: justice system
  Tagged: bailiffs, debt, Brassed Off, regulation, council tax
• The new year's resolution Chris Grayling should keep
  Posted on January 8, 2013 by Louise Restell
  Hands up, who has already broken their new year’s resolution? Apparently about 75 per cent of us will fail after just nine days, which makes them hardly worth bothering with (unless, say, your resolution was to decorate the living room by 8 January 2013). Mine are suitably unoriginal, but since I recommit to them at least once a month they don’t really count as new year’s resolutions.
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  Posted in: justice system, legal aid
  Tagged: LASPO, legal aid, personal injury, claims portal, Chris Grayling
• Is the customer always right?
  Posted on December 29, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Party perils
  Posted on December 19, 2012 by Louise Restell
• An alternative Twelve days of Christmas
  Posted on December 18, 2012 by Louise Restell
• The divorce app: a gift for life, not just for Christmas
  Posted on December 10, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Is self representation the legal equivalent of a DIY appendectomy?
  Posted on December 5, 2012 by Louise Restell
• The day the circus came to town
  Posted on November 28, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Education education education
  Posted on November 20, 2012 by Louise Restell
• We'll fight them on the beaches, but not, apparently, in the court room
  Posted on November 19, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Would the rational consumer please stand up?
  Posted on November 14, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Is an Englishman's home still his castle?
  Posted on November 7, 2012 by Louise Restell
• And did those feet...
  Posted on November 6, 2012 by Louise Restell
• It doesn't pay to be a victim of crime
  Posted on October 31, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Trust me, I’m a lawyer
  Posted on October 29, 2012 by Louise Restell
• The right to vote isn’t just a ‘nice to have’
  Posted on October 26, 2012 by Louise Restell
• No more heroes anymore
  Posted on October 25, 2012 by Louise Restell
• It’s a question of priorities
  Posted on October 22, 2012 by Louise Restell
• The sun always shines on TV
  Posted on October 18, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Fighting over the frying pan
  Posted on October 11, 2012 by Louise Restell
• What’s in a name?
  Posted on October 5, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Publish and be damned
  Posted on September 25, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Some human rights cannot be more equal than others
  Posted on September 17, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Twenty-three years is a long time to wait for justice
  Posted on September 12, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Will the Paralympics do anything for disabled people?
  Posted on September 7, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Homelessness, not squatting, is the real crime
  Posted on September 4, 2012 by Louise Restell
• So, you want to be a lawyer?
  Posted on August 31, 2012 by Louise Restell
• A not-so-light holiday reading list for lawyers
  Posted on August 24, 2012 by Louise Restell
• It is time for the law to allow dignity in dying
  Posted on August 22, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Some bizarre, and some bonkers, legal cases in sport
  Posted on August 17, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Hot gossip
  Posted on August 15, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Ending sexism in sport means including men's synchronised swimming in the Olympic Games
  Posted on August 7, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Death and Facebook
  Posted on August 1, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Warning: this post may offend Olympic sponsors
  Posted on July 31, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Campaigning for a right to compassionate leave
  Posted on July 25, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Justice must be seen to be done
  Posted on July 24, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Watch what you tweet
  Posted on July 18, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Essential holiday tips: Don't pee in the sea
  Posted on July 16, 2012 by Louise Restell
• If we want compensation we should exile the bankers
  Posted on July 11, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Bad law, or rather, not actually the law at all
  Posted on July 9, 2012 by Louise Restell
• The old ways are not always the best, not by a long shot
  Posted on July 3, 2012 by Louise Restell
• That joke isn't funny anymore
  Posted on July 1, 2012 by Louise Restell
• It's the consumer, stupid
  Posted on June 27, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Why Assange is no freedom fighter
  Posted on June 20, 2012 by Louise Restell
• To tweet or not to tweet?
  Posted on June 19, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Sticking your head in the sand doesn't stop the tide coming in
  Posted on June 8, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Pies and prejudice: should obesity discrimination be illegal?
  Posted on June 6, 2012 by Louise Restell
• The government's 'concessions' over secret courts are not concessions at all
  Posted on May 30, 2012 by Louise Restell
• We have only ourselves to blame
  Posted on May 29, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Mr Wonga and the jobs factory
  Posted on May 23, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Team Justice Gap, probably the best team in the world
  Posted on May 22, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Tell me why? I don't like Tuesdays
  Posted on May 14, 2012 by Louise Restell
• You get what you pay for: the SRA and the minimum salary
  Posted on May 9, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Mind the gap: why the SRA's consumer information falls short
  Posted on May 8, 2012 by Louise Restell
• What goes around comes around: MPs and the legal aid cuts
  Posted on May 6, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing
  Posted on May 2, 2012 by Louise Restell
• I have seen the future and it works (sort of)
  Posted on April 25, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Have barristers lulled themselves into a false sense of superiority?
  Posted on April 24, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Getting away with murder
  Posted on April 22, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Legal aid's last stand
  Posted on April 18, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Dispel the health and safety myth? It's more than my job's worth
  Posted on April 11, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Spring cleaning the statute book: it's not just old laws that should go
  Posted on April 11, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Whatever happened to the big bang?
  Posted on April 5, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Can I have a puppy please? Social media for lawyers
  Posted on April 2, 2012 by Louise Restell
• The new QualitySolicitors ad: the John Lewis-ification of legal services?
  Posted on April 1, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Insure your way to justice
  Posted on March 21, 2012 by Louise Restell
• CPD: Time to think outside the box
  Posted on March 20, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Attacks on our justice system are propelling Britain into Nineteen Eighty-Four
  Posted on March 14, 2012 by Louise Restell
• What I've learned about lawyers and legal complaints in the last two days
  Posted on March 6, 2012 by Louise Restell
• The legal aid bill: a stroke of genius or a complete cock-up?
  Posted on March 5, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Occupy: a civil disobedience campaign to change the world or just a camp site?
  Posted on February 29, 2012 by Louise Restell
• The partnership problem
  Posted on February 28, 2012 by Louise Restell
• When is a job not a job? When it's 'work experience'
  Posted on February 27, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Fired because of Facebook?
  Posted on February 21, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Why lawyers will never be Cameron's Valentine
  Posted on February 16, 2012 by Louise Restell
• What price freedom of information?
  Posted on February 15, 2012 by Louise Restell
• And they're off! The race to capture the consumer is finally underway
  Posted on February 6, 2012 by Louise Restell
• I don't care what their contract says, bonuses are bad for business
  Posted on February 1, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Whose data is it anyway?
  Posted on January 31, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Fake Nigerian bankers are the least of our worries: Welcome to the UK's rip-off conumser culture
  Posted on January 28, 2012 by Louise Restell
• When is a job not a job? When it's a 'self-employment' opportunity
  Posted on January 23, 2012 by Louise Restell
• The idiot's guide to choosing a lawyer
  Posted on January 20, 2012 by Louise Restell
• It's the end of the world as we know it - feeling fine?
  Posted on January 16, 2012 by Louise Restell
• This lawmaker is an ass
  Posted on January 14, 2012 by Louise Restell
• There's more than one way to skin a cat and don't let them tell you otherwise
  Posted on January 11, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Stephen Lawrence: The Daily Mail can take credit, but it was evidence wot won it
  Posted on January 4, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Grinch Lawyer Syndrome? What the client wants for Christmas and why “Brand,You” will always trump “Brand,Firm.”
  Posted on January 4, 2012 by Louise Restell
• It's always darkest just before it goes pitch black: my thoughts on 2011 and 2012 (part 2)
  Posted on January 3, 2012 by Louise Restell
• Alien abductions and changing the habits of a lifetime: my thoughts on 2011 and 2012 (part 1)
  Posted on December 28, 2011 by Louise Restell
• All I want for Christmas...
  Posted on December 21, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Is Norman Tebbit the voice of reason?
  Posted on December 21, 2011 by Louise Restell
• What the age of criminal responsibility tells us about our attitude to children
  Posted on December 13, 2011 by Louise Restell
• This post will exceed your expectations
  Posted on December 7, 2011 by Louise Restell
• The real solicitors from hell
  Posted on December 6, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Why lawyers should join a real trade union
  Posted on November 30, 2011 by Louise Restell
• When is a ban not a ban?
  Posted on November 27, 2011 by Louise Restell
• In defence of personal injury lawyers: One man's crusade to ban PPD
  Posted on November 22, 2011 by Louise Restell
• What the weirdoes can teach us about citizenship
  Posted on November 16, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Verdict on The Jury
  Posted on November 15, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Why lawyers should welcome complaints and why many won't
  Posted on November 8, 2011 by Louise Restell
• The law is far too important to be left to lawyers
  Posted on November 6, 2011 by Louise Restell
• The mayor, the judge, some celebs and the PM's brother
  Posted on October 31, 2011 by Louise Restell
• DIY-law: the future of access to justice?
  Posted on October 26, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Challenging state decisions: is Cinderella up to the job?
  Posted on October 25, 2011 by Louise Restell
• QualitySolicitors enters the big time - what a spectacle!
  Posted on October 22, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Believe it or not, regulation isn't everything
  Posted on October 11, 2011 by Louise Restell
• The crazy case of the cat who sat on the act
  Posted on October 8, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Can lawyers learn anything from Apple?
  Posted on October 6, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Hands off our employment rights
  Posted on October 2, 2011 by Louise Restell
• The lion that didn't roar for access to justice
  Posted on September 29, 2011 by Louise Restell
• The big fat messy saga of Dale Farm
  Posted on September 25, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Why won't the Lib Dems defend legal aid?
  Posted on September 19, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Why the death penalty is a very very bad thing
  Posted on September 17, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Why the government is really banning referral fees (clue, it's not for consumers)
  Posted on September 12, 2011 by Louise Restell
• This revolution should be televised: why courts should let the cameras in
  Posted on September 6, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Shop around and you might find a lawyer you like
  Posted on September 5, 2011 by Louise Restell
• All lawyers should be made equal, but some are clearly more equal than others.
  Posted on August 31, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Why we should send Gaddafi and his awful outfits to the ICC
  Posted on August 30, 2011 by Louise Restell
• It's no walk in the park for DSK
  Posted on August 25, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Can enlightened self interest be compulsory?
  Posted on August 19, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Solicitors from hell - you can run but you can't hide
  Posted on August 16, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Responding to the riots: why we should avoid a knee-jerk reaction
  Posted on August 14, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Why I'm proud to be British: policing by consent and the rule of law
  Posted on August 9, 2011 by Louise Restell
• Compensation culture? What compensation culture?
  Posted on August 4, 2011 by Louise Restell
• In which I write about legal services, Amanda Holden and chocolate
  Posted on August 1, 2011 by Louise Restell