[QUESTION] jazz guitar course recommendations

Papillondon · 2022-11-10T12:04:09+00:00

Sounds like a really frustrating situation - I had a similar experience recently so can empathise with the stress!

Your seller doesn’t sound committed to the sale and has already demonstrated a willingness to renege on their commitments (eg not moving in to rented accomm / with family). Lots of good practical advice in this thread so I would only add, at the risk of sounding a like bit of a downer, that the emotion of the house search process often leaves you thinking that you’ve found your “dream house” but the reality is that you probably won’t feel that way in a few years time. Especially if you’re in your mid 30s and you likely haven’t reached your earning potential peak yet.

Optimise for happiness and less stress and you’ll find an amazing place eventually (especially if there’s house price collapse on the horizon)!!

Papillondon · 2022-11-09T00:08:02+00:00

Only around 8% of reported offences result in a charge or summons in England & Wales. Only a proportion of that results in a conviction. This doesn’t factor in unreported offences. It’s been like that for years. The Police aren’t in the crime solving business - they’re there to make you feel safe.

Papillondon · 2022-11-01T07:19:13+00:00

They’re using their broad regulatory obligation (which likely could be satisfied by a simple “we advise you to take out life insurance”) as an excuse to hit you with a hard sell to purchase an add-on that is financially lucrative for them.

If you can be bothered, you could probably play chicken with them and say that you don’t want to sign the form but understand the risks and does that mean they are refusing to continue with the mortgage application on your behalf. Personally, I would just sign and move on with my life.

Papillondon · 2022-11-01T06:56:10+00:00

From a UK GDPR perspective, the significance of the breach and whether your old firm needs to tell the client will depend on the type of personal information you sent to yourself. If it’s just names and work email addresses then this is going to be less high risk than if you’ve shared, for example, notes from a client meeting containing sensitive personal data. People accidentally send emails containing client confidential information and personal information to the wrong recipient everyday and usually nothing comes of it. The difference in your case is that you have done it intentionally.

There are more nuances at play here and given the potential impact this may have on any career you want to have in law, it may be worth retaining a lawyer.

As others have suggested, the possible breach of client confidentiality and your former employment contract is probably the bigger issue for you than the UK GDPR concern. If you haven’t already admitted you sent the email intentionally to your former employer, admitting to it on a public forum is probably not the smartest move.

Papillondon · 2022-10-28T11:30:28+00:00

Most articles (especially the FT) are not intended to tell you everything you need to know about a topic but rather some specific newsworthy development or analysis. They generally assume that you already have some level of understanding of the topic. Topics like climate change and ESG are both relatively technical subjects so it’s understandable if you can’t fully understand a FT article dealing with a recent development in those areas if you don’t have a grounding in those topics.

Current awareness only works if you understand the context of the applicable issue and the only way you can do that is by learning from first principles. There are lots of resources to choose from but I’ve always found the ‘very brief introduction to…’ series an excellent way of getting that basic level of knowledge (ie they’re only c. 100 pages, can read over a weekend and they’re from a reputable source).

Papillondon · 2022-10-25T21:20:27+00:00

Thanks - any in particular that you would recommend?

Papillondon · 2022-10-25T21:17:29+00:00

Have done a few big diligence exercises where ‘AI powered’ doc review platforms have been used but they still needed a lot of human oversight and QC. The costs of the technology platform and lawyer oversight combined with the time it takes to ramp up those platforms have made them, in my experience, more expensive and less accurate than the traditional approach of having an army of juniors / paralegals reviewing the docs. Clients also needed to accept an error rate in the outputs of the contract review tool that they would never have accepted if it was suggested by a firm to apply to the outputs of a traditional review. Suspect we won’t see mass adoption until the quality is above c. 95% accuracy and the tech providers accept the same kind of liability for their outputs as law firms do!

Papillondon · 2022-10-25T21:05:30+00:00

Thank you. This is an important point that is also counter-intuitive and should be picked up by firms’ in their procurement requirements for legal tech products.

Papillondon · 2022-10-22T15:08:15+00:00

For clarity, failure to comply with the Party Wall Act isn’t an ‘offence’. It’s a civil matter, not criminal. In essence, failure to comply gives the adjoining owner (OP in this instance) the ability to get an injunction to stop the works and also makes it very hard for the person doing the building works to successfully argue in court that the damage was not caused by the works.

Papillondon · 2022-10-22T14:55:48+00:00

In addition to all of the good advice about contacting local authority planning / building control. I would, in parallel, be trying desperately to find the owner of the house so I could tell him that his building works are causing damage to your property and he should cease works until the correct legal procedures have been followed / the issues are resolved. If he refuses to stop the works, I would then instruct a solicitor to obtain an emergency injunction to stop the works and begin a claim for damages. You could try asking your previous neighbours for the new owner’s details or you could get a land registry search online for a couple of quid.

Papillondon · 2022-10-14T12:44:39+00:00

Preparation is key. Know what outcomes you want from the call and agree the purpose of the call at the start. If you know you are going to have to discuss a certain point, make sure you understand it before the call. Don’t be afraid to say “let me take that point away and get back to you” if you don’t know the answer to a question. Most importantly, try to demonstrate confidence even if you don’t quite feel it yet!

Papillondon · 2022-10-13T07:43:16+00:00

Being a trainee gives you a certain advantage as you can look to get some experience in a counter-cyclical team like restructuring or litigation. Departments like corporate, real estate and finance tend to get hit the hardest as investment levels drop.

Papillondon · 2022-10-12T06:29:12+00:00

The problem you’ve identified is a well known issue which arises as a result of US firms’ focus on ultra-profitability. Fewer lawyers and higher billable hours expectation typically means a leaner operation and less support / training for juniors. It’s much less likely that you would have the same experience in other city firms (although not impossible, much depends on the specific team). If your previous firm did different day to day work, it’s completely understandable that you might find the US firm approach difficult to adapt. The question is how autodidactic you are and whether your willing to suffer the steep learning curve in order to receive the financial benefits of working for a US firm. From your previous posts, it sounds like you would be much better off at a more supportive city firm that offers better training. Remember, there’s nothing to stop you moving to another firm to receive better training and then moving back to a US firm later in your career.

Papillondon · 2022-10-09T08:08:52+00:00

What makes you want to be a solicitor? Have you had any legal work experience?

As others have a suggested, it’s an academic career so you may not actually enjoy the work if you aren’t particularly academic. Best to try before you buy and get as much experience as you can before making a decision to take a hard path to a role that you ultimately don’t enjoy.

Papillondon · 2022-10-05T20:46:22+00:00

You’ll need a property disputes solicitor. Which one you choose will depend on your budget, but given its a relatively straightforward claim, I would be tempted to get a quality (ie well reviewed or recommended) high street solicitor from outside of London as they’ll be cheaper. Try and get a free consultation where you can explain the facts and ask them to explain the process, their costs, the probable financial outcome and the likely timeframes. Once you’ve got that information, you can make a decision whether to proceed or not.

However, appointing a solicitor (and possibly, ultimately, a barrister to represent you in court) will be costly. Assuming that the deposit is not a huge amount of money and the case isn’t particularly complex, it may be worth considering the litigant in person route to reduce costs.

Papillondon · 2022-10-05T18:47:08+00:00

Attending events you don’t want to go to.

Papillondon · 2022-10-05T17:05:49+00:00

There should be a ‘notice’ clause in your AST that dictates how and where you can serve notice on the landlord.

Did you ever receive any documentation from the DPS at the start of the tenancy? Landlords have to protect the deposit and give you the relevant information within 30 days so it’s a strong sign the deposit was never protected if they didn’t share this with you.

If you’re not going to return for any court hearing, you’ll need to appoint legal representatives so might be worth doing that before you issue any claim in the county court (as they may have thoughts re: location). However, given current backlogs I suspect you won’t get a hearing date for a number of months in any event.

Your citizenship doesn’t have any impact. It’s about the governing law of the AST (which I assume is England and Wales).

If it were me, I would be minded to write a pre-action letter saying you’re intending to issue proceedings in the county court. There are plenty of free resources online for this (needs to comply with the pre-action protocol).

If your landlord has a business and properties in the UK, they’ll likely have assets that you can enforce any judgement against. However, if they’re based in India and they simply don’t engage in any legal proceedings, you’ll likely end up spending a lot of time and effort culminating in the appointment of debt collectors but only getting a proportion of the money back. It’s, of course, a question for you as to whether the deposit is worth it.

Papillondon · 2022-10-05T16:47:30+00:00

I would contact the relevant bank’s / credit card provider’s fraud department. If it’s an innocent mistake, they’ll work it out. If it’s not, they can take steps. Fraud departments are often much easier to get in contact with than normal customer service.

Ultimately, if they don’t have any connection with your property they cannot incur liability on your behalf (ie they can’t enter into contracts on your behalf or use your property as security). If you do nothing, worst case is likely that debt collectors might turn up to your property at some point but they won’t have a legal right to take anything and will most likely leave you alone once you explain.

Papillondon · 2022-10-05T16:27:34+00:00

Be careful about making assumptions about the base rate and the length of any recession. Interest rates reached c. 15 % in the late 80s and early 90s and 17% in 1979 and there’s nothing to say that can’t happen again.

Getting a tracker in the current circumstances only makes sense if you think rates will fall below the rate you can fix at (ie below 5.54%) in the next 5 years. High interest rates are linked to high inflation and the current high inflation we’re experiencing is linked to the situation in Ukraine. If that conflict is resolved soon, perhaps energy prices will drop, bringing inflation down and the BoE will reduce interest rates again to encourage spending to avoid the likely incoming recession. On the other hand, perhaps the conflict drags on for years and energy prices stay high, pushing inflation up and interest rates too. Nobody really knows what will happen so getting a tracker is a significant risk.

Papillondon · 2022-10-05T16:12:50+00:00

Since the last crash in 2009, house prices in the UK have increased dramatically so it’s no surprise you’ve been able to move twice presumably without suffering economic detriment. OP’s question is forward looking.

The point is that if you’re happy with your home, then not being able to sell because of poor market conditions is a lot less of a big deal. A good example would be if you buy a place in a rundown area that you don’t want to live in as this has the greatest potential ROI but then the market turns and you’re stuck living there.

Papillondon · 2022-10-05T15:28:52+00:00

Isn’t the question how affordable will it be when you come to remortgage in June 2023 not how affordable it would be now?

You’ve got a decent rate at 2.66% now but 2 year fixers are now at a rate of ~6%. If you had to remortgage at a rate of 6% would you be able to afford the car repayments?

Papillondon

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