Scottish lawyers unperturbed by Dutch stereotyping
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The Netherlands Bar Society has done its bit for international relations by using a novel picture to illustrate a story about the liberalisation of Scotland’s legal market.
Eschewing a photograph of the Edinburgh Court of Session, an establishment that dates from 1532, the Bar Society even chose to shun stereotypical images of lochs, mountains and heather.
Instead, the society felt the best way to illustrate a story about the Scottish legal profession would be by using a picture of a man in a Jimmy hat. With nails in his mouth (pictured).
While the choice of picture is interesting, Lorna Jack, chief executive of the Law Society of Scotland, said Scottish lawyers are not perturbed by it.
She added: “The society believes that Scotland’s legal profession should be able to adapt to best meet the needs of modern society and a global economy.
“Scots lawyers are well respected around the world and we want to ensure that our members have access to the opportunities that ABSs [alternative business structures] could present to adopt new practices, to deliver the services their clients expect and develop their businesses in Scotland, as well as elsewhere in the UK and overseas.”
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Readers' comments (12)
mary | 12-Nov-2009 4:20 pm
That's OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!!
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Jimmy Two Times | 12-Nov-2009 4:34 pm
Fair comment, I reckon - you can always trust the Dutch to give it to you straight...
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City Gent | 12-Nov-2009 5:14 pm
Lorna Jack deserves a Dalek award.
I have rarely seen such a bland and robotic response to a quite amusing news story.
She maintains to perfection the stereotype of Scotsmen as dour Gordon Brown types, and has missed out on a great opportunity to dispel the myth that the Scots have no sense of humour.
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Anonymous | 12-Nov-2009 6:04 pm
Perhaps the Scottish Law Society should have a picture of a smoking bong and caption it The Netherlands?
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City Boy | 13-Nov-2009 8:07 am
I didn't know there were any lawyers in Scotland.
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IHateBPP | 13-Nov-2009 8:58 am
This tickled me, very funny indeed. An unusual story for The Lawyer though, maybe they're merging with Roll On Friday?
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Clergham | 13-Nov-2009 9:31 am
To be honest I don't even get it. Are Scots known in other countries for carrying nails in our mouths?
I do bite my nails. Is this the same thing?
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Anonymous | 13-Nov-2009 4:36 pm
It merely reflects how the Law Society responds to any issue; without actually reading the question or considering the issue :-(
...but it is good to know that ABS will enable us to work more closely with nail chewing caricatures
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Anonymous | 13-Nov-2009 4:48 pm
They eschewed lochs and whatnot because they needed to show Scottish court dress.
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Laz | 16-Nov-2009 11:48 am
The response is ten times funnier than the original daft stereotype. I'd have come up with some elaborate Austin Powers based crack about "Fat B*stard" and distrusting the Dutch.
p.s. Hi Clergz
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