Happy Easter - see you in the new world!!

So we are drawing to the end of one most stressful weeks I can recall. The sheer number of changes due to come into force on Easter Monday has left half the legal profession in need of a long break!

In readiness for next week we have had to –

1. Review all of our conditional fee cases,
2. Take out insurance on all cases because after Tuesday the premiums will be payable by the client and not the defence. One insurer tells me that in a normal month they might issue about 2,000 policies. In March it has been 7,000.
3. Ensure that a legal aid application is lodged for all clients who might be eligible as no more can be sent in after 1^st April.
4. Review every single referral arrangement to ensure that it does breach the ban on referral fees that comes in on; you guessed it, 1^st April.

So can I publicly apologise to clients who have not seen me for dust this week. I have been far to busy preparing for the changes than to do any legal work.

It is with great ironic timing that I’m off to the doctors’ this afternoon for my annual blood pressure test! I could be off the scale.

But despite the pressure, the long hours and the general gloom we have got there. Because however much politicians might move the goalposts we will always knuckle down and do the best we can for our clients.

So Monday sees the start of the new world. I had a dream last night that I woke on Monday to be told it was all an April Fool and that we should have seen the clue in the date. Alas it was just a dream.

But we have had enough doom and gloom. It’s Easter. It’s spring and it’s not snowing just at the moment.

So Happy Easter one and all.

See you next week when we certainly won’t be in Kansas any more.