Textual dealing

The lowering of standards in the legal market is the issue du jour in certain circles, ever since Sir David Clementi opened the door to the Co-op and the AA and other oiks to start playing at being proper lawyers.

Now Tulkinghorn has learnt that new technology is creating a new threat, even to the high-billing lawyers in the magic circle.

At a recent evening out with a bunch of Freshfields corporate partners, James Wood mentioned a texting service in which you can ask any question and get an answer for £1.

"So," quizzed Tulkinghorn's ever-vigilant scribe, "do you ever use it to ask, 'what's a Section 110 insolvency?'"

Wood replied that once they did text a question about some obscure corporate law loophole and whether it existed in Sweden - just for curiosity's sake, of course, and not at all because they didn't know the answer themselves. Honest.

Incredibly, the answer from the text message came back: "This is not to be taken as legal advice [blah blah blah disclaimer], but this law does exist in Sweden in rare cases, although it is not recommended."

Just think how many texts you could do in a chargeable hour…