Dog Days

[liadnan]

Ho hum.

The July flood of work continues unabated: many solicitors seem to suddenly appreciate the approach of limitation and procedural deadlines and the possible interference that might cause with their holiday plans at the beginning of July (and also the beginning of December). August and January seem, at least in my line, to be utterly dead by contrast.

The upshot of this is that for the last three mornings I have been dragging myself out of bed at ungodly hours in order to reach county courts in the middle of nowhere by 9.30 in the morning. Surrey and Herts are now my oyster. Or something. Then returning to Chambers to plough through mounds of paper, with more arriving every day. As a result little of interest has been happening in my life, save that I skived off a bit early on Tuesday to wander round the Islamic Art exhibition with Frankie

Frankly, I don't really think it deserves the blurb of "one of the cultural highlights of the year" and much of it left us cold. Interesting though, and as Frankie pointed out, we'd probably have appreciated it more if we were more attuned to the culture that produced it, particularly the miniature illustrations of legends and the like.

When I woke up, the vague hints at the back of my nose had turned into a full-fledged summer cold, coupled with a massive headache, so I'm taking advantage of the fact I have no hearing today to have a slow start at home. Unfortunately I have a long meeting to go to this evening...

Whatever. I have little to say. Go read Frankie's response to the vile Amanda Platell who apparently doesn't think the recent crop of large awards to women in the courts are deserved. Though frankly the intersection of Amanda Platell and the Daily Mail should be warning enough for any sane reader.

As I understand it, though, the decisions were based more on clear gender discrimination, rather than the sexual harrassment issues: while the two inevitably often occur together and together often give rise to constructive dismissal cases, they aren't the same thing.

Comments

[fi.livejournal.com]

Kevin Myers ranted on about sexual harassment cases in the Irish Times yesterday.

"...So. Is this it? Is this what the feminist project has come to, where successful professional women are suddenly reduced to tearful little victims whenever men become drunken or stupid or flirtatious? Is every such human infelicity to end in the courts? Are foolish men to be reduced to driving vans, while women to whom they made "inappropriate" remarks are given vast financial compensation? This surely is the nadir of feminism, the permanent infantilisation of women.

"Meanwhile, thanks to the equality, feminism and the race relations industry, the courts are becoming even more intrusive and powerful, even as they manage to see out of both ends of the telescope simultaneously. Thus when a woman is not being infantilised as the victim, she is being magnified as the heroine: hence the Appeals Court ruling in London last week that one third of the future earnings of the Arsenal footballer Ray Parlour should go to his ex-wife."

"...Neither law nor justice is at work here, but the clinical assessment of lawyers of how much more can be extracted from the system - on this occasion, the "system" being a wretched footballer in the twilight of his career.

"But all this is happening in Britain: what's the relevance to us? This. Common law jurisdictions imitate one another, especially in matters of litigation - the word which makes lawyers weep tears of purest joy: gravy everywhere, like dung in an abattoir. Shameless lust for legal fees has driven the litigation juggernaut throughout the common law world: thus doctors are now utterly unable to insure themselves against the hunting-packs of lawyers that bay ravenously outside every maternity ward and operating theatre. And the Appeal Court ruling in London will be the minimum benchmark for future confiscations against men, with the only direction being upward: ruination, Parlour-made."

Hmmm.

(and sorry for long comment)

[liadnan]

No need to apologise.

Common law jurisdictions will "imitate one another" it's actually explicit in the system that a ruling in another common law jurisdiction is persuasive, though not binding, authority.

I am slightly more doubful about the Parlour case than I am about the employment cases though. 50/50 split of assets on divorce all well and good, but I'm not sure that should go forward.

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

Her(lawyers') argument, I think, is that by supporting him personally (for example, helping him to keep out of the bars and off the cocaine), she has enabled him to develop and safeguard the talent that has and will continue to earn him money. This should mean that some of the rewards of that work in the future should be hers regardless of their marital status - almost an IP thing, perhaps.

Not yet entirely sure what I believe, but I don't think the argument should be dismissed out of hand.

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

But thank you for clarifying the harassment / discrimination piece. I think I'm arguing that both occur routinely, both should be stopped and high-profile cases are the only thing we know about so far that might bring this about. I think (but am not certain) there are also cases where senior managers have been prosecuted for harassment and convictions have led to job loss, and this has had a similar effect.

I don't know of any direct link between harassment and financial awards, not being an employment lawyer (nor, indeed, any other kind of lawyer). However, in the large financial institution where I work, policies that prohibit both harassment and discrimination are taken ever more seriously. This appears to be primarily in response to the belief that a failure to do so might lay the bank open to the loss of large sums of money.

And I am not a regular reader of the Daily Mail (she says, feeling horribly defensive). Airport lounges, y'know.

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

Actually, I've thought about my previous comment and this is not fair. I think my employer is at least as much motivated by a desire to bring about equality of treatment and opportunity, and I apologise to it.