View from the Hill

Always read your contract

Whether it is your contract of employment or a contract of service, the document can seem like a lengthy and extremely dry piece.  But it is an important document which should be read, absorbed and questions asked if need be. 

What reminded me of this was reading a recent article about the infamous Van Halen World Tour rider list.  In 1982 Eddie and the band made a request for, amongst other items, "M&M's (WARNING: ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES).     The reason why this was included was to make sure that contracts were read and requests adhered to.  When going into their dressing rooms, if the brown sweeties were there, then this brought doubt as to whether those involved in putting the tour together had actually paid attention to other things such as lighting, staging etc etc.  It was there to catch people out.

The moral of the story is that you should always read your legally binding documents, they are documents you sign after all, as you may be caught out.

 - Katharine Liu

Packed your umbrella?

Jeremy bagged the sunshine in Brighton. Looks like I'm getting rain in Manchester... I'm off this afternoon to the BIALL Conference, which starts bright and early tomorrow morning. If you're going to be there, please stop by the stand to say hello and sample one of our fantastic SHR jelly beans!

It looks like it'll be another successful conference and I'm looking forward to catching up with friends made at the last two conferences.

Now, where did I put my wellies...

- Suzanne Wheatley

Why are law firms reluctant to adopt web 2.0 technologies?

Interesting post from the Running Librarian James Mullan on Web 2.0 Resistance in Law Firms. The Am Law Tech 2008 survey shows that relatively few law firms have deployed Web 2.0 tools and James's post considers the reasons why this might be. The comments particularly suggest that this is due to cultural barriers within law firms rather than problems with the technologies themselves...

Keeping up with new immigration laws affecting our workers

I went to a most informative seminar this morning at law firm Mishcon de Reya on the new points-based immigration system that is being phased in at the moment. As a recruitment agency employing temporary workers it's essential for us to be clued up on immigration law to ensure that we are not accidentally falling foul of any immigration rules or employing  workers illegally. Not only is this a legal obligation but part of our duty of care to clients and candidates alike.

I have been surprised in the year that I've been working here to see what an onerous burden that is and how much of my time as information manager has been spent tracking changes to immigration laws or clarifying points with the Home Office.

Part of the problem seems to me that the Home Office itself is unable to give clear and consistent guidance, nor is information being published on their website in a timely fashion for the new points-based system. For example, Tier 5 Youth Mobility Scheme opens for applications on 27 November, yet the list of sponsor countries is not yet available. The Australian and NZ press have run articles saying that  workers in the YMS scheme may work for the full 24 months of their visa (instead of 12/24 for current working holidaymakers) yet the Home Office is currently unable to confirm or deny that.

Clearly it's the responsibility of all employers to ensure they are compliant with the immigration rules but surely the government has an equal responsibility to us all to ensure that relevant information is provided in a clear and simple to understand format?

New copyright licence for law firms

I was interested to see on Friday that the Copyright Licensing Agency has announced the launch of a new licence designed specifically for UK law firms. From 1 November, the Law Licence will enable articles and clippings from law reports, journals and press cuttings (magazines, journals, legal and other periodicals, but not newspapers) to be scanned, stored electronically and distributed externally to clients.

Good news for current awareness services in law firms?