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- on November 24, 2008 at 9:11 pm
How could you leave Hiscock off the list?
The Top 10 Bizarrely Named Law Firms In The World
November 24, 2008Here at Swordplay we were struck by Susie Boyt’s affirmation of the new non-cynical zeitgeist in the weekend Financial Times. “Six times recently at parties, I’ve seen grown men breaking into song, unprompted by me, and in an absolutely unprecedented way,” purred Ms Boyt, as a log fire crackled and everyone ate devils on horseback. She fears a return to ritualistic “doom and gloom” but so as to keep a smile on the cheery novelist’s face, here are the Top 10 Bizarrely Named Law Firms In The World.
10. Lawless & Lawless.
San Francisco is not only the home of Jamon Bollock, one of the legal profession’s most notably named individuals, but also of the Lawless sisters, Barbara and Therese, who together practise employment law at Lawless & Lawless. It is, however, unlikely that disgruntled opposing lawyers have adapted the chorus of The Clash’s famous song so that it laments “I fought the Lawless- and the Lawless won”, because this would be very silly.
Variant on The Clash’s sense of the law by Banksy.
9. Sacker & Partners.
Somehow, despite Ms Boyt’s Panglossian, party-filled take on the world, a firm called Sacker & Partners seems particularly apposite for these troubled times. Mind you, as William Gallas might have had time to find out on the weekend, having been temporarily sacked as Arsenal captain, the UK firm specialises in pensions rather than employment law.
8. Held, Held & Held.
“We won’t give up and we won’t let go” says family law firm Held, Held & Held’s website. We say: Hold That Thought.
Image courtesy of Revlimit on Flickr.
7. Wright Hassall.
In at No. 7 is the second UK contender, and it’s no hassle, just like this scene, to put them there (sorry).
6. Butts & Johnson.
“With years of experience we have litigated cases with dedication and our client’s best interest in mind. In all, we have settled hundreds of cases.” So says the website of California law firm Butts & Johnson, a strong entry in the ‘Unintentional Rude Name’ sub-category. But do they really just have the one client?
A spokesman from Surfers Against Sewage was unable to answer this question. However, he said he hoped Butts & Johnson would not feel precluded from supporting its ‘No Butts on the Beach’ campaign.
5. Moon Beever.
Another UK contender, Moon Beever’s name rhymes with ‘Day Dreamer’, ‘Lemon Squeezer’, ‘Spoon Cleaner’ and ‘Moon Beaver’, the last of which is the name of a Bond Girl in 2018.
In the absence of formal casting for the 2018 Bond movie Momentum of Solstice, here is an image of the current Bond Girl.
4. Smart & Biggar.
Disrupting the US/UK hegemony is Canada’s Smart & Biggar. Related to Fetherstonhaugh — Canada’s largest patent agency firm — through common partners, offices and personnel, they are smart, and they’re also big.
Pictured courtesy of Geegaw on Flickr: a large car and a small couch. We doubt there’s any place for the latter at Smart & Biggar.
3. Payne & Fears.
When we heard of national US firm Payne & Fears, we feared they might handle Personal Injury claims. If so, what, save for a firm called Ambulance & Chaser, could be worse? But it seems their considerable expertise lies elsewhere, and so, we are relieved to note, our fears were groundless.
2. The Strange Law Firm.
“Memorable Name, Remarkable Results.” So says The Strange Law Firm’s tagline, and certainly, if you click here, you’ll learn that the firm’s eponymous founder doesn’t seem strange at all. Which is a good thing, because for a moment we couldn’t help but be reminded of the epitaph found, in 1737, on a headstone on the North York Moors:
Here lies John Strange.
A Poor Lawyer.
That was Strange.
Photograph of Paul Strange courtesy of The Strange Law Firm.
1. I Can’t Believe It’s A Law Firm!
Don’t believe any law firm would call itself I Can’t Believe It’s A Law Firm!? Well, Lionel Hutz did in The Simpsons, the truth is stranger than fiction, and Ronald Reagan was once the US President. You have been warned…
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2 Responses to “The Top 10 Bizarrely Named Law Firms In The World”
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- on November 27, 2008 at 8:14 pm
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onThe Top 10 Bizarrely Named Law Firms In The World : Spada …Here’s a quick excerptSan Francisco is not only the home of Jamon Bollock, one of the legal profession’s most notably named individuals, but also of the Lawless sisters, Barbara and Therese, who together practise employment law at Lawless & Lawless. … [...]
When a lawyer’s son is before the law
September 8, 2010
A lawyer of Swordplay’s acquaintance finds himself in a fix.
“My teenage son is to be interviewed by the local constable,” he tells us. “He is alleged to have committed an offence.”
We gasp, for such seems the appropriate response, and then ask: is it serious?
“No, it is not,” our troubled legal friend tells us. “In the great scheme of things, my son’s alleged transgression is about as de minimis as they get.”
For a split second, we wonder if said teenage son is cognisant of lawyerly terms of art such as de minimis, but rapidly conclude that the answer to this question is not a sine qua non of further discourse. And so we press on. That sounds good, we say, relatively speaking, at least.
“Yes,” says the lawyer, “but I am at a loss as to what to do with him. Do I come down hard and ground him, or do I play the liberal card, or do I find a compromise?”
That depends, we aver.
“On what?” asks our man.
On whether you would prefer to deal with your son’s alleged offence as a lawyer, or as a father, or as a father who is a lawyer, or maybe even as a lawyer who is a father.
“I see your point,” says the lawyer. And then, as if to prove that there is no cure for recidivism, he says: “The offence is, after all, de minimis.”
Without prejudice, we add.
Pictured: something out of Kafka. Now there was a man who knew about the law. And had a tough old father, too.
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Max Mosley and Wayne Rooney: bedfellows?
September 6, 2010
We rarely enjoy pondering Max Mosley – the man, the sins, the legal action, what he stands for – but confess to a degree of grudging admiration for his tenacity in trying to change the law of privacy. As this story from the Independent has it, Mosley has lodged a request with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg asking that, by law, journalists must inform the subject of a story of the private details they intend to print, prior to publication.
We suspect the motor racing man would never have thought it, but he would appear to have an unlikely bedfellow in a certain England footballer. Step forward, Wayne Rooney, who would presumably put his name to Mosley’s petition.
Pictured courtesy of NashvilleScene: some bedfellows are stranger than fiction.
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Memo to Freelance Writers: return that editor’s call quickly
September 3, 2010
Woe betide those who freelance and fail to return a call.
We say this upon hearing of a normally prolific freelance journalist who picked up a voicemail from an editor at one of the nationals on Tuesday afternoon. Please call us, was the message, and it could mean just one thing – a commission.
Our hero’s habitual practice is to return such calls as soon as is reasonably practicable, as m’learned friends might put it. In practice, that would habitually mean within a couple of hours. Most atypically, and for reasons we have yet to fathom, our man failed to call back for a full 24 hours.
By then, said editor had looked elsewhere. One of our man’s competitors had the gig, an interesting piece about cricket and the law, one which might just be in The Times today and which, we assume, asks whether the Pakistan cricket team have been caught out (in the legal sense, you understand).
We make no judgement on the no ball scandal, save to say that it is a scandal, but in another sense the moral is clear: in the fast-paced world of modern media, he who hesitates is lost.
Pictured courtesy of PrintedClothing.com: a fast-selling shirt.
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