I have known some good, honest and diligent lawyers in my life. My current legal adviser and friend for over 30-years is an honest, brave modest, and shy man (so I won’t name him) who has on at least two occasions been decorated for diving into the river and saving drowning people. He doesn’t hang about waiting for people to jump in the river as some sort of lifeguard he just happens to be a strong swimmer who lives by the banks of the river Almond.
Contrary to this type of selfless solicitor, I have known lawyers who in turn have been wicked, dishonest, infamous and fascinating, about whom one could write volumes.
Is it just me who comes across these legal lepers or have I simply experienced what a typical layman would encounter in a normal lifetime? Or do I attract errant lawyers the way a magnet attracts iron filings?
You can make up your own mind from reading my musings in the first two of a series of six articles by going to the link (marked Pages) and clicking on the articles entitled “My first lawyer” and “Magic Circle Man” below.
Next up will be my experiences in a corrupted arbitration.
UPDATE 22 December 2024
Recently, as a party litigant, I opposed a petition by Fife Council for the sale of Common Good land, part of a garden at New Row Dunfermline. Also opposing the petition were Central Dunfermline Community Council, who in 2020 had received pro-bono assistance from the Faculty of Advocates in the form of an opinion of their objections by advocate Michael G. J. Upton.
The case was delayed for various reasons and in 2023 a date was set for the hearing at which time the CDCC sought an update from Mr. Upton who declined to assist them further on the basis that some of the community council members were friendly with Mr. Tom Minogue, who had said some unkind things about a society that Mr Upton was a member of.
Surely this can’t be true? I know for a fact that Michael, when dealing with the actions of Robbie the Pict in relation to the Speculative Society of Edinburgh, wrote to his former under-graduate acquaintance George Monbiot stating: “advocates cannot choose or reject clients.” Given this statement it seems that unlike Mr. Pict I am beyond the pale, or to be more precise, anyone who is friendly with “Toxic” Tom Minogue is beyond the pale!
Say it ain’t so Michael?
Update 08 February 2025
Fife Council’s shitty solicitor.
Just when I thought Mr. Upton had totally soured my view of the legal profession up steps Mr. William “Billy” McDonald, solicitor for Fife Council to vie for No 1 in the ranks of the shitty solicitors I’ve known. In the common good case mentioned above in which I acted as a Party Litigant Respondent, the sheriff ordered the two remaining parties, myself and the Petitioner to submit final documents in 7 days ending on Friday the 31st January (my 80th birthday), and telling Billy he must go first. I figured that on past form Billy would act the goat and prepared as far as I could a submission based on what I thought he would put in. I spent a fab day with family but with one eye on my emails until at literally the eleventh hour I could wait no longer and dashed off a final submission which I posted to the court/Billy at 23:15 hrs.
Billy didn’t disappoint and sent his to me at 23:55 hrs with his main submission quoting the case of East Lothian District Council v National Coal Board, but without attaching that case. This left me with less than 5 working days to obtain a copy of the Scots Law Times article on the case and make replies to his assertions regarding it. What a shit of a man he is. He didn’t know it was my birthday, but he knew it was 5 minutes to midnight and I was waiting.
Redressing the balance of shitty solicitors somewhat were the two lawyers randomly chosen from online profiles who responded to my personal pleas for a copy of the case, which allowed me to view and comment on it in person at Dunfermline Sheriff Court, where after the hearing, I was able to tell Billy just what I thought of his petty actions. What is he like eh?