Clerks, dangers of
I have been stitched up by two sets of clerks at two separate chambers simultaneously.
First off, I got tenancy. So, I have to move from pupillage chambers to new chambers.
I was supposed to start at my new chambers last week. But I wasn't ready and hadn't moved my things. So I moved my moving date to tomorrow, 20 December (I wanted to be installed before Christmas so when I come back all my induction-y stuff will be done and I can hit the ground running in January).
Tuesday or Wednesday last week, family clerk at my new chambers calls and asks can I work on Monday. Sure, I say. OK, she is booking me into a case at Edmonton County Court. The papers are in my pigeon-hole, I can pick them up (I am in court millions of times and do not so much pick up the papers before the end of the work-week. Oops).
Later that day, or the next day, I notice a case go into my diary at my old chambers. For Monday. That is odd, because the clerking team at my old chambers is well-aware I am moving into my new chambers by Monday and therefore, erm, will not be with them anymore. In fact, in the two weeks of my diary starting on Monday 20 December, on every single day is written "Starting at [name of new chambers]". So, um, they know. Why have they put a case in then? I look closer. It is listed in Edmonton County Court. Light-bulb. My new clerk must have told my old clerks about the case, in case they didn't know I was moving that day, and they've very kindly put it into my diary. So I forget about it, thinking that all is well.
I have an incredibly late night (erm, early morning) on Thursday and Friday don't emerge from bed until around mid-day. As a result I don't go in to either set of chambers. In early afternoon I get a call from the head clerk at my old chambers saying, "Ah, Miss, just to let you know that your papers should be coming in for your matter on Monday sometime before the end of the day..." What? This doesn't make sense. My new clerk has told me that the papers for Monday's case are in my pigeon-hole at my new chambers. Why would she send them along to my old clerks without telling me. I tell him I'm supposed to be doing a case for new chambers on Monday, and it's at Edmonton, and I thought it was the same one as the one they've put in my diary. He says, well, that may well be as the junior clerk was the one who booked it, so he'll check and ring me back. He doesn't.
So at around four, guiltily, I ring my new clerk. She's had a call from my old head clerk. I explain again about my confusion and say that I've made it very clear to my old head clerk that I'd told her I'd do a case for her and that is what I'll do. "Well," she said, "actually, you're going to do both, if that's OK"!
So now I have just got done reading papers in two separate cases, both of which are listed before the same judge, at the same time, in the same court, tomorrow morning. One seems to feature extreme acrimony between the parties and two kiddies who are very emotionally disturbed as a result. The other features a client who, based on one of the solicitors' internal attendance notes from earlier this year, can sometimes be verbally aggressive to his legal representatives.
So, like I say, stitched up.
My own damn fault for not moving quickly and neatly, I suppose.
First off, I got tenancy. So, I have to move from pupillage chambers to new chambers.
I was supposed to start at my new chambers last week. But I wasn't ready and hadn't moved my things. So I moved my moving date to tomorrow, 20 December (I wanted to be installed before Christmas so when I come back all my induction-y stuff will be done and I can hit the ground running in January).
Tuesday or Wednesday last week, family clerk at my new chambers calls and asks can I work on Monday. Sure, I say. OK, she is booking me into a case at Edmonton County Court. The papers are in my pigeon-hole, I can pick them up (I am in court millions of times and do not so much pick up the papers before the end of the work-week. Oops).
Later that day, or the next day, I notice a case go into my diary at my old chambers. For Monday. That is odd, because the clerking team at my old chambers is well-aware I am moving into my new chambers by Monday and therefore, erm, will not be with them anymore. In fact, in the two weeks of my diary starting on Monday 20 December, on every single day is written "Starting at [name of new chambers]". So, um, they know. Why have they put a case in then? I look closer. It is listed in Edmonton County Court. Light-bulb. My new clerk must have told my old clerks about the case, in case they didn't know I was moving that day, and they've very kindly put it into my diary. So I forget about it, thinking that all is well.
I have an incredibly late night (erm, early morning) on Thursday and Friday don't emerge from bed until around mid-day. As a result I don't go in to either set of chambers. In early afternoon I get a call from the head clerk at my old chambers saying, "Ah, Miss, just to let you know that your papers should be coming in for your matter on Monday sometime before the end of the day..." What? This doesn't make sense. My new clerk has told me that the papers for Monday's case are in my pigeon-hole at my new chambers. Why would she send them along to my old clerks without telling me. I tell him I'm supposed to be doing a case for new chambers on Monday, and it's at Edmonton, and I thought it was the same one as the one they've put in my diary. He says, well, that may well be as the junior clerk was the one who booked it, so he'll check and ring me back. He doesn't.
So at around four, guiltily, I ring my new clerk. She's had a call from my old head clerk. I explain again about my confusion and say that I've made it very clear to my old head clerk that I'd told her I'd do a case for her and that is what I'll do. "Well," she said, "actually, you're going to do both, if that's OK"!
So now I have just got done reading papers in two separate cases, both of which are listed before the same judge, at the same time, in the same court, tomorrow morning. One seems to feature extreme acrimony between the parties and two kiddies who are very emotionally disturbed as a result. The other features a client who, based on one of the solicitors' internal attendance notes from earlier this year, can sometimes be verbally aggressive to his legal representatives.
So, like I say, stitched up.
My own damn fault for not moving quickly and neatly, I suppose.