News & Views

Like beauty, risk is in the eye of the beholder. A key business decision can be seen through one person’s eyes as a clever entrepreneurial market move and, through another’s, as a reckless bet-the-house punt.

We all know that nothing in life is certain. As the actor, director and philosopher Clint Eastwood once said: “If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.” He also said he’d tried being reasonable and didn’t like it. They should teach this kind of philosophy in law school.

As the Queen starts to relax after her Christmas broadcast and I rise with a flush in my cheeks to carve our Cambridge Bronze, I will spare a thought for our cherished legal profession. Like the bird beneath my knife, it has had a good stuffing this year.

Had Isambard Kingdom Brunel been a lawyer and not an engineer, suspension bridges might have remained the domain of orthodontists and we might still be rowing wooden boats to the Balearics for our summer holidays.

With the Government, the Competition and Markets Authority, the Legal Services Board, the Law Society and the legal services regulators all flashing their sequined blouses like contestants on Strictly Dumb Downing, the idea of leaving a ‘secure’ job and setting up a new law firm is likely to feature alongside bareback-rodeo and base-jumping on most people’s personal risk register.

We’ve started serving English Brexit Tea in our office. Some say it leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste while others find it quite refreshing.

“The trouble with retirement is you never get a day off.” Anon

On 6 April 2016, new rules come into force requiring companies (which includes limited liability partnerships) to keep a register of individuals and legal entities that have control over the company.

A 2014 report prepared for the Institute for Family Business stated that the UK is home to around three million family businesses which generate around a quarter of the country’s GDP and employ approximately 9.4 million people – that’s 39% of private sector jobs.

“I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.” David Bowie