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A fool for a lawyer
Having been disappointed by the typical quality of work done by the lawyers in my price range I have mostly done my own legal work. While I start out knowing far less than they, I suspect that what saves me is that I compensate by putting in an awful lot of time and attention: researching, triple-checking, etc. It may be like being treated by some hospital doctors where, again, while highly qualified and experienced, they have scanned the notes on one's complex case for maybe two minutes while sleep-deprived. Similarly, I expect that lawyers often just have some underling copy some template document, fill in the obvious variables, and nobody much reads it thereafter, not even noticing that a couple of terms not even applicable to the specific case got left in.
Still, how do I get away with it? I think there are a couple of reasons. One is that I make use of all the applicable document templates that I can find. Where there is new law without yet much in the way of precedent one can often search online for the slides from seminars for lawyers that suggest how to approach it safely. With Federal law there is often a lot of precedent and associated commentary searchable online, e.g., for immigration. The other reason that has probably been my principal savior is that I always sail obviously far from any lines: I know that I do not have the skill to push any legal envelopes so I have endeavored to avoid situations that brushed remotely near a gray area. I suspect that the people who really need lawyers are often those who are trying to get away with as much as they possibly can. I am but an amateur so I prefer to accept other costs if it means that I can have the legal side go smoothly.
It has probably also helped that I have tried to maintain a broad background understanding of the law: I can better stay in safe waters and discover specific issues with a case that concerns me if I can already guess where those issues might lie. It felt very strange to first set foot in the US and thus become subject to a different legal environment. Getting to the real point of this journal entry, my first broad introduction to the law of England and Wales was the excellent
The law has changed significantly since 1962; this is why some publications for lawyers are a subscription service with exchangeable pages. Well, these days I suppose they are all computerized. In both the US and the UK I have sought comparable up-to-date volumes that provide basic broad legal background but every book that I have checked has disappointed, largely on breadth. The typical focus appears to be on domestic civil law. If I also want commercial law, criminal law, etc., then it seems that I have to look elsewhere. I am hoping that I have simply missed something and the book I want, the modern-day
Of course, Scottish law is mostly its own beast, to the extent that when I do need a solicitor's help with an English case then, rather than use a local law firm, I must engage an English one; luckily not much needs to be done in person these days. I certainly do not expect to find a readable overview of Scottish law if I cannot even find one for England and Wales.
Still, how do I get away with it? I think there are a couple of reasons. One is that I make use of all the applicable document templates that I can find. Where there is new law without yet much in the way of precedent one can often search online for the slides from seminars for lawyers that suggest how to approach it safely. With Federal law there is often a lot of precedent and associated commentary searchable online, e.g., for immigration. The other reason that has probably been my principal savior is that I always sail obviously far from any lines: I know that I do not have the skill to push any legal envelopes so I have endeavored to avoid situations that brushed remotely near a gray area. I suspect that the people who really need lawyers are often those who are trying to get away with as much as they possibly can. I am but an amateur so I prefer to accept other costs if it means that I can have the legal side go smoothly.
It has probably also helped that I have tried to maintain a broad background understanding of the law: I can better stay in safe waters and discover specific issues with a case that concerns me if I can already guess where those issues might lie. It felt very strange to first set foot in the US and thus become subject to a different legal environment. Getting to the real point of this journal entry, my first broad introduction to the law of England and Wales was the excellent
Newnes Family Lawyerfrom 1962. What is special about it is that it combines both breadth and detail: for example, it might tell one plenty about conveyancing, or disputes with tradesmen, but also what can constitute assault and how that differs from various degrees of battery.
The law has changed significantly since 1962; this is why some publications for lawyers are a subscription service with exchangeable pages. Well, these days I suppose they are all computerized. In both the US and the UK I have sought comparable up-to-date volumes that provide basic broad legal background but every book that I have checked has disappointed, largely on breadth. The typical focus appears to be on domestic civil law. If I also want commercial law, criminal law, etc., then it seems that I have to look elsewhere. I am hoping that I have simply missed something and the book I want, the modern-day
Newnes Family Lawyer, is out there. I suppose that early courses in a real law degree would provide such but I do not have the need, the time or the money to buy and read a whole set of expensive textbooks: I may want an effective summary but also an easy and fast one.
Of course, Scottish law is mostly its own beast, to the extent that when I do need a solicitor's help with an English case then, rather than use a local law firm, I must engage an English one; luckily not much needs to be done in person these days. I certainly do not expect to find a readable overview of Scottish law if I cannot even find one for England and Wales.