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17 December 2021 / Peter Mansfield
Issue: 7961 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Home Alone: The birth of a lawyer

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Peter Mansfield reveals the shocking truth about a popular Christmas film

We need to talk about Kevin McCallister.

Can you remember the day you decided to become a lawyer? Or perhaps it is more accurate to say: the day you realised that you were already a lawyer. Because lawyering is something that is always within us, waiting to emerge, like a tarantula from a terrarium. All it needs is for the terrarium to break and the spider of justice is freed.

For Kevin, that moment occurred on 24 December 1990, aged eight.

Kevin’s legal epiphany is documented in the film, Home Alone. The pivotal moment in that story occurs when Kevin’s family travels to France for Christmas, accidentally leaving Kevin behind at home, alone. Well, I say ‘accidentally’. In fact, I suspect there is something Freudian going on. Perhaps Kevin was the unintended result of a night of passion and there is an unconscious rejection thing in play. Who knows? Whatever the reason, his family’s attitude towards

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NEWS
The Law Society RFC Festival of Sport returns next month, bringing together legal and financial services professionals for one of the sector’s largest annual sporting events
Legal aid deserts leave almost one in four without adequate access to justice
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has warned solicitors and law firms that using artificial intelligence does not alter their professional obligations, amid concerns over inaccurate legal material and client confidentiality
From forgotten interest claims to case-management appeals, a string of procedural developments offers useful—and occasionally cautionary—lessons for practitioners

Jonathan Fisher KC highlights that it now accounts for around 40% of criminal offences, with roughly 70% involving technology, and argues that the UK cannot simply prosecute its way out of the problem. Detection, investigation and prosecution all require improvement, while different fraud types demand tailored responses.

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