Monday 29 March 2010
Love thy neighbour?
For all the legal and physical investigations a homebuyer can do, nothing beats checking on the neighbours - http://bit.ly/aPmuOG
Seriously: if your home is to be your sanctuary, you need good neighbours. Like family (unlike friends), you cannot choose them - existing neighbours may be replaced by new ones. However, before you buy a new home., check on the neighbours - and if you are buying a flat, the most important neighbours are those who live above you, not those on either side
Seriously: if your home is to be your sanctuary, you need good neighbours. Like family (unlike friends), you cannot choose them - existing neighbours may be replaced by new ones. However, before you buy a new home., check on the neighbours - and if you are buying a flat, the most important neighbours are those who live above you, not those on either side
Friday 26 March 2010
Tenterden Pudding Club
Once a month (on the last Friday in each month), various Tenterden-based professionals and business people (solicitors, accountants, estate agents, IFAs, telecom consultants, bank managers, insurance brokers, etc) get together for an informal, single-course lunch and a bit of networking
There is no need to commit to attending (nor to apologise if you cannot attend), but if you are in business in Tenterden and would like to be added to the email reminder list, let me know: send me an email at jn@justinnelson.co.uk
There is no need to commit to attending (nor to apologise if you cannot attend), but if you are in business in Tenterden and would like to be added to the email reminder list, let me know: send me an email at jn@justinnelson.co.uk
Rush Witt & Wilson return to Tenterden
Rush Witt & Wilson are estate agents with offices in Battle, Rye, Hastings, Bexhill and St Leonards. They did also open an office in Tenterden, but closed it when the economy went down the tubes
In what may be a sign that the economy (or, at least, the local housing market) is improving, I hear they are re-opening their Tenterden office on Saturday 3 April - you can even enter a free draw for a balloon ride, dinner at Richard Phillips at Chapel Down, guided tour of Chapel Down vineyard or a ride on the Kent & East Sussex Railway
In what may be a sign that the economy (or, at least, the local housing market) is improving, I hear they are re-opening their Tenterden office on Saturday 3 April - you can even enter a free draw for a balloon ride, dinner at Richard Phillips at Chapel Down, guided tour of Chapel Down vineyard or a ride on the Kent & East Sussex Railway
Tuesday 23 March 2010
Always learning, always improving
I spent all of today on a conveyancing CPD (continuous professional development) course in Tunbridge Wells.
While most of the content was not new, it provided a forum for some interesting discussions with other solicitors about practices, procedures and attitudes to risk - and about "clients from hell"!
It also left me with about a dozen possible improvements to make to paperwork and procedures - life is a constant process of improvement, which I currently welcome, but I wonder how soon I will become demotivated (as many lawyers I know) and cannot find the enthusiasm to change
The majority of those attending feel Home Information Packs to be a waste of time and money, but I still feel that, done well, they help the conveyancing process significantly
While most of the content was not new, it provided a forum for some interesting discussions with other solicitors about practices, procedures and attitudes to risk - and about "clients from hell"!
It also left me with about a dozen possible improvements to make to paperwork and procedures - life is a constant process of improvement, which I currently welcome, but I wonder how soon I will become demotivated (as many lawyers I know) and cannot find the enthusiasm to change
The majority of those attending feel Home Information Packs to be a waste of time and money, but I still feel that, done well, they help the conveyancing process significantly
Saturday 20 March 2010
"Tragedy at Law" by Cyril Hare
Just finished reading this - on the advice of P D James, no less - "Written with elegance and wit" - and thoroughly enjoyed it
Not a thriller, but a "whodunnit - and why?" it is truly elegant and quite captivating. A detailed account of a near closed room mystery with a legal background and well-described characters, the outcome is both surprising an satisfying.
I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who wants a slightly intellectually-demanding crime novel: light enough to be read for pure pleasure, but deep enough to be satisfying
A five star mystery, IMHO
Not a thriller, but a "whodunnit - and why?" it is truly elegant and quite captivating. A detailed account of a near closed room mystery with a legal background and well-described characters, the outcome is both surprising an satisfying.
I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who wants a slightly intellectually-demanding crime novel: light enough to be read for pure pleasure, but deep enough to be satisfying
A five star mystery, IMHO
Small town delights (number 99 in an infinite series)
This morning, while shopping in Tenterden with my daughter, I was approached by a postman in Waitrose with a recorded delivery letter that he had tried to deliver to my home earlier.
He had left the usual card, so that I could collect the item from the sorting office. However, seeing me go into Waitrose, he followed, and I was able to take and sign for the item there.
That's what I call service!
He had left the usual card, so that I could collect the item from the sorting office. However, seeing me go into Waitrose, he followed, and I was able to take and sign for the item there.
That's what I call service!
Thursday 18 March 2010
Top tips for 2010
In the Law Society Property Section magazine for this month, 11 members of the section's executive committee gave their top tips on how to prosper in the new decade
Almost all of them were very good, but almost all of them were steps, attitudes and procedures we at Nelsons Property Lawyers had adopted from Day 1 - we are looking for ways to imprive beyond these relatively basic client care ideas
If you have any suggestions as to how we can improve client care, we'd love to hear them!
Almost all of them were very good, but almost all of them were steps, attitudes and procedures we at Nelsons Property Lawyers had adopted from Day 1 - we are looking for ways to imprive beyond these relatively basic client care ideas
If you have any suggestions as to how we can improve client care, we'd love to hear them!
Money laundering
Though conveyancers have been at the sharp end of money laundering activity to date, it seems that litigators are now being targeted as well
Until now, it was thought that litigation was a less fertile area for laundering the proceeds of crime than conveyancing was: fraudsters had been setting up spurious property transactions in order to launder money, while litigation was considered a less risky area of law
Because conveyancers have become more and more strict over their anti-money laundering procedures, the criminals are apparently now setting up spurious debt collection and similar claims, in order to launder their money through lawyers' firms
As a result, litigation solicitors will need to be as alert as conveyancers have become, to spot signs of suspicious activities and report them where appropriate
How soon will this apply to probate and matrimonial lawyers, too?
Until now, it was thought that litigation was a less fertile area for laundering the proceeds of crime than conveyancing was: fraudsters had been setting up spurious property transactions in order to launder money, while litigation was considered a less risky area of law
Because conveyancers have become more and more strict over their anti-money laundering procedures, the criminals are apparently now setting up spurious debt collection and similar claims, in order to launder their money through lawyers' firms
As a result, litigation solicitors will need to be as alert as conveyancers have become, to spot signs of suspicious activities and report them where appropriate
How soon will this apply to probate and matrimonial lawyers, too?
April Fool giveaway
It's my birthday in April, so I'm giving a 10% discount on all new legal work where I receive (and accept)instructions in April 2010 - you need to quote "promo code April Fool" when giving the instructions (on the authority form, in the case of new clients) in order to qualify, so don't forget
Another school governor monitoring visit
I have carried out another monitoring visit, this time focusing on "Community Cohesion", which is a formal way of saying, "We all have to get along together, so play nicely" - I understate for effect, of course, but it does seem to require a lot of input for something that, in 90% of schools, must be taught and experienced automatically anyway. Ah, well, it ticks some boxes ...
Wednesday 10 March 2010
School monitoring visit
In my capacity as a governor of the Infant School in Tenterden, I today paid a monitoring visit to the school
It is always a delight visiting the school: all the children are well-behaved, happy and hard-working, and they really seem to thrive in the school's positive atmosphere; It makes me quite proud to be a small part of that success
My visit focused on the "drop-off club" in the mornings - which allows parents to drop off their children for supervised play before school normally starts, so that the parents can get off to work or whatever - and the role of the newly-appointed Family Liaison Officer. Both are aspects of the "Extended Schools" initiative, which tries to get schools more closely involved in their local communities.
On the basis of my visit today, both the drop-off club and the FLO are valued by parents, and (certainly in the case of the drop-off club) by the children who took part as well.
Yet more evidence, if needed, that the school is very successful
It is always a delight visiting the school: all the children are well-behaved, happy and hard-working, and they really seem to thrive in the school's positive atmosphere; It makes me quite proud to be a small part of that success
My visit focused on the "drop-off club" in the mornings - which allows parents to drop off their children for supervised play before school normally starts, so that the parents can get off to work or whatever - and the role of the newly-appointed Family Liaison Officer. Both are aspects of the "Extended Schools" initiative, which tries to get schools more closely involved in their local communities.
On the basis of my visit today, both the drop-off club and the FLO are valued by parents, and (certainly in the case of the drop-off club) by the children who took part as well.
Yet more evidence, if needed, that the school is very successful
Tuesday 2 March 2010
Tenterden accountants get it together
Two firms of accoutants with offices in Tenterden are to merge with effect from April Fools' Day (1 April 2010)
Phipps & Co, who also have offices in Rye, will merge with Gibbons Mannington, who also have offices in Rye (and in Bexhill as well)
As Phipps & Co have only relatively recently returned to Tenterden, re-absorbing the Day Peto & Co practice that had previously spun off from them, this merger seems to indicate that they are actively managing their future - as one would expect from good accountants!
Good luck to them in their latest phase of development
Phipps & Co, who also have offices in Rye, will merge with Gibbons Mannington, who also have offices in Rye (and in Bexhill as well)
As Phipps & Co have only relatively recently returned to Tenterden, re-absorbing the Day Peto & Co practice that had previously spun off from them, this merger seems to indicate that they are actively managing their future - as one would expect from good accountants!
Good luck to them in their latest phase of development
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