From the Editor

In December I found myself reflecting on 40 years as a solicitor. By coincidence I very recently attended a function at the Law Society Halls in a room in which I was formally admitted to the Roll. I hadn’t been there in all those years, and spent a moment remembering my parents, now deceased, who sat proudly with me. Lord Justice Donaldson was Master of the Rolls and signed to confirm my admission. I recall a number before me hoping to have theirs signed by Lord Denning.

In 1980 the Law Society made new training requirements to improve standards and I was part of the first tranche. Articled clerks became trainees, we were to be paid a minimum salary (£1,750) and the firm had to sign a training log showing experience in mandatory areas of law. I did my training with a small firm in Woking.

The firm was very old fashioned, and I had to work quite hard to get them to accept I wasn’t just there to photocopy, and hand deliver local mail. That’s not to say I avoided these; far from it. I got to know people in a number of the local businesses, discovered the best bakery in Woking and could have had a second career as a photocopier technician.

My training principal also instilled in me some basic attitudes I have never forgotten. He was amongst the first Royal Marines to enter Berlin as the Allies advanced in 1945. He was then a young officer and in civilian legal life he was an absolute stickler for doing things correctly and behaving properly. Part of my training involved watching and listening as work was done and I had a small desk in his office so that I could observe. Looking back this was invaluable. I can still picture him and although at the time he could be exasperating I remember him fondly and with great respect. He instilled the basics of integrity, standing up for what was right, and the “fearless” quality of being a lawyer. There are training courses for this now.

Looking back, I owe him a great deal. I also fondly acknowledge the contribution of my other life mentor who taught me to remember at times of challenge that life is too short to work with idiots. That too continues to stand the test of time.

1982 brought a move to Kent and to a firm which didn’t use old copiers! There was an array of support – it was a revelation. It had a telex machine and computerised accounts. It was and remains a firm with a long history and fine reputation. I did divorce and criminal work and was a duty solicitor. Wearing a pager on my duty days and nights wasn’t welcomed once my first child came along.

I learned the basics of court work and over the years ahead did much civil and criminal advocacy. Magistrate’s courts were still called police courts. Police interviews were handwritten and not recorded. PACE was enacted to address certain behaviours! This all served me well as I acquired Higher Court Advocacy Rights for both crime and civil later in life.

In the midst of all this, I got married to Jane, who worked for what was to become the Crown Prosecution Service. We have three wonderful children who have shown great wisdom in not going into law and one grandson. Who knows what the future holds for him.

I recall my first mobile phone and when email and the internet became parts of life. I have watched about half of Magistrates Courts in Kent close over the years. I have seen legal aid disappear. Secretaries taking shorthand changed to dictating machines and then to voice recognition. I have prosecuted and defended in criminal and civil courts. Legal life has been rich, varied, challenging and in no small measure a roller coaster. It has been a source of elation and despondency, stress and laughter.

So much has changed. This edition of SOLO now gives prominence to men’s mental health (never spoken about in my earlier years), and this combines neatly with the SRA at last announcing it will take workplace toxicity seriously as a conduct issue. Both so important.

40 years has taken me from bachelor to husband, to father, to grandfather, and from assistant solicitor to partner to sole practitioner. It’s been a blast.

David Barton, Editor