We last considered the subject of costs in an article published in November 2007. At that time, we considered what requirements had to be followed by a firm to ensure that they were complying with the (then new) Solicitors’ Code of Conduct 2007. The most important part of the Code for costs is the rules that require clients to be given clear and accurate cost quotes and estimates. Most law-firm staff will have come to grips with the Code long ago, but new changes are pending that will further regulate this area of legal costs.   These changes are based on the recommendations of Lord Justice Jackson, who has spent more than a year creating a weighty, 663 page report

How many times have you had to reread the last page or so to catch what you didn’t take in? The best way to learn the skills and to practise them in timed sessions is on our very successful half-day course. You will see amazing results!

In the meantime, and so you don’t just go through the motions", here are ten tips to help you read more quickly and effectively.

You have days when there just seems no point to what you’re doing – where it all feels futile or meaningless. Your motivation is low, yet the work still needs to be done.

Whatever your situation, here’s how to find meaning in your work, and to get your motivation back.

Think about your values

What’s truly important to you? Maybe it’s your family, your health, or your career. Maybe it’s simply having the time to enjoy yourself and do things that you love.

In April 2002, medical professionals in the fields of plastic and constructive surgery breathed a huge sigh of relief as the National Care Standards Commission Regulations came into force. After years of campaigning beforehand, it was hoped that there would be a strong element of control over this area of health care at long last.

To-do lists are a great way of increasing productivity. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the tasks we have to do during the course of a week, but we can eliminate stress by creating achievable goals. If you take the time to write down the tasks you need to complete, you will find that the list will help you to put your workload in perspective and keep the end in sight.

Here are some tips on creating to-do lists to make your workload more manageable:

1. Be realistic. Set achievable outcomes for each day and don’t put too much on your list.

Have you ever been told you can be ‘read like a book’? Are you aware when your body language is ‘leaking’, or giving you away? Words are only a very small part of communication: while you are saying the words, your body is speaking volumes! Sometimes, you don’t even have to say anything: your face or body language will have said it for you! So, if you want to make sure you send all your messages in the way you intend them, here are the top ten tips to help you:

Good organisation is all about planning ahead and preparing effectively. When we organise things well, we make the best and most economic use of our time and skills and we also have the satisfaction of having dealt with things with clarity of thought and purpose.

The Space Race

Disagreement about the morality of cloning any life form has been raging within our society for a number of years now. Most countries have an outright ban on any research that extends to the cloning of another human being, but the cloning of other animals is definitely a grey area. This uncertainty is most probably what is responsible for the recent events that have attracted widespread news coverage.

The story broke with the revelation that milk from cloned cows had already entered the human food chain. Then it was revealed that meat from these animals had most likely entered the chain as well.

Most people do not read minutes particularly carefully. They were either at the meeting and so only need a quick reminder of the discussions and action points or they were not there and therefore just need an overview and, once again, action points. So it is essential that the minutes can be skim-read and understood at first reading. Here are the top 10 tips to make your minutes understandable:

No one can fail to have been shocked and disturbed by the recent case from Iran of a woman condemned to death by stoning for a conviction of adultery. The obscenity of the punishment, against a woman half buried and defenceless, for what we see as a private act, mirrors our feelings of sadness at a regime which has used violence against a passive civil society to maintain itself.

But this dark shadow that has reached up to us from a forgotten age also serves to remind us of how law can be made to serve the ends of repression. And although we may be comfortable with the gender equality we have now, the legal systems of the West have certainly participated in this history of repression by men of women. So, how has the law's approach to adultery changed in this country? And can a parallel evolution of sharia be expected or possible?