Why does it all rain on me? We all know who is really in charge in law firms....

Why does it always rain in Manchester? I confess to having some regional prejudices. I’ve worked my whole life in sunny Kent, the garden of England, with its picturesque Castles, Cathedrals and poly tunnels producing all those lovely strawberries for Wimbledon and Tesco.

90s band Travis asked “why does it always rain on me? Is it because I lied when I was 17?” No lads, it’s because you recorded the track in Manchester, the home of rain. This summer’s test match in Manchester was the only one that could not be concluded because of wet weather for 2 days out of the 5. I have further scientific evidence for this. I’ve been to Manchester 6 times in my working life for meetings or conferences and my data analysis shows it rained 100% of the days spent there. Friends from our time as part of the Quality Solicitors network, Queen of anti-money laundering, Amy Bell, and professional Mancunian Claire Smith both deny this. When I went to do an AML talk one January with Amy in the city she and Claire both promised me, with confidence, it wouldn’t rain. They were actually right. It snowed. 

I couldn’t do my job without my colleague Heidi. Diligent, friendly and hard working she has the patience of a saint with everyone, especially me. We don’t hold her Croydon roots or her love for Simon Le Bon against her. Heidi is one reason why we get so many online positive reviews as clients rightly love dealing with her. As the Partner dealing with the file clients think I’m in charge, do the legal work and it is me delegating tasks to my staff. The reality is, like law firms all over the country, Heidi gives me emails and the calls I need to deal with as well as the technical legal issues to sort. She delegates to me. She takes the call that deals with the lawyer I had a heated discussion with about a contract clause yesterday, smooths it all over with a a stern word, a laugh and gets exactly the wording our client wants and that I miserably failed to get. The wheels of the law are greased by the Heidis of the world and our clients benefit from all this loveliness. Now I’ve got to go she has got more work for me…chop chop. Last week I wrote about my decluttering project. 2 weeks later and my room floor still has piles of stuff to sort. Heidi understandably does not like this mess. She comes into my office, stares at the best current route to take from my door to my desk, puffs out her cheeks and does an exaggerated prance around the many piles of paperwork like one of those elegant Vienna horses. I must get this sorted…