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The urban spaceman

10 June 2016 / Richard Harrison
Issue: 7702 / Categories: Features
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Richard Harrison considers how to achieve the status of ideal litigator

We all strive towards perfection. As litigators we want to achieve the ideal: to have our letters commended by judges and all our time allowed by the costs office.

Technical abilities

We can all have an understanding of the substantive law. We can all have a grasp of the underlying commercial realities. We must then get to grips with the multitudinous procedural requirements laid down in rules, practice directions, guidance notes and an entire panoply of full-blown court guides. We can follow, and religiously apply, the ample material contained in Gordon Exall’s comprehensive blog Civil Litigation Brief. But, to achieve the status of ideal litigator, something more is needed.

Prophetic abilities

It seems to be expected that each problem we confront, each response we plan, every move we make, we have experienced before. Our practices will be set up to ensure that all steps are taken following properly considered guidelines and that actions are implemented at precisely the right level of fee earner.

Categorisation

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

FOIL—Bridget Tatham

FOIL—Bridget Tatham

Forum of Insurance Lawyers elects president for 2026

Gibson Dunn—Robbie Sinclair

Gibson Dunn—Robbie Sinclair

Partner joinslabour and employment practice in London

Muckle LLP—Ella Johnson

Muckle LLP—Ella Johnson

Real estate dispute resolution team welcomes newly qualified solicitor

NEWS
Solicitors are installing panic buttons and thumb print scanners due to ‘systemic and rising’ intimidation including death and arson threats from clients
Ministers’ decision to scrap plans for their Labour manifesto pledge of day one protection from unfair dismissal was entirely predictable, employment lawyers have said
Cryptocurrency is reshaping financial remedy cases, warns Robert Webster of Maguire Family Law in NLJ this week. Digital assets—concealable, volatile and hard to trace—are fuelling suspicions of hidden wealth, yet Form E still lacks a section for crypto-disclosure
NLJ columnist Stephen Gold surveys a flurry of procedural reforms in his latest 'Civil way' column
Paper cyber-incident plans are useless once ransomware strikes, argues Jack Morris of Epiq in NLJ this week
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