The Defence Brief

Choosing a solicitor can be confusing work Last December, I wrote about a case where a lady had come to me for a second opinion having instructed a solicitor's firm who immediately passed her case to an unqualified paralegal to handle. The paralegal then instructed a wholly inappropriate "expert" who produced a report based entirely on his own guesswork. They wasted about a £1,000 of the lady's money and proved that going for the cheapest quote isn't a great plan any more when instructing a solicitor than when hiring a builder. Today, I spoke to a lady who is looking for a solicitor. She asked me a lot of questions about my qualifications (that's a good idea, know who you're dealing with before you instruct them ). She also told me about another solicitor she had spoken to and had been impressed by, she gave me the other solicitor's name and made clear that she is a qualified solicitor - I admit I always ask who else a potential client has s

Tom Hayes sentenced to 14-years imprisonment for Libor fraud This afternoon came the news that former City trader for UBS and Citi Bank, Tom Hayes, has been convicted and sentenced to 14-years imprisonment for his part in fixing the London interbank offered rate (Libor).   According to the news sites, Libor was manipulated by so many traders that one has to wonder why anybody trusted it at all.   It also begs the question why only Mr Hayes has been prosecuted when the media report that discussion of Libor fixing was rife in the City. So, what did he do?   First, I don’t claim to be an expert in banking but so far as I understand it Libor is the interest rate at which banks lend to each other.   Each bank reports the interest rate it is paying to the British Bankers Association each morning, which then sets the Libor rate based on an average of those rates after eliminating the highest and lowest rates reported.   Because the Libor rate is used for a market worth arou