Law Society’s Gazette, May 1941

(Situations vacant)

  • SOLICITOR, not liable for military service, required to take sole charge in August next, for duration of war, of general practice in small North Midland industrial town; arrangements can be made in the case of a young solicitor for slight supervision from advertiser’s colleagues, but applicant must have some experience of police and county court advocacy, also to be familiar with conveyancing, probate and High Court work, particularly divorce; write stating age, experience and salary required.
  • WANTED immediately for Wisbech, experienced bookkeeper-cashier, exempt from war service, or female, and able to deal with trust accounts, rent and mortgage interest and income tax; write giving age, references, experience and salary required.

Law Society’s Gazette, May 1951

Round About The Legal World

By The Lay Gazeteer

It is in my blood to seize avidly on what fiction writers call examples of ‘the law of reversal’.

Newspapers are a prolific source of such things and you usually find them tucked away in odd corners, where the best story plots are always to be found.

The latest for my collection is the following: ‘Los Angeles, Tuesday – Jesse James, a son of the famous American bandit, has died aged 75.

He was a retired lawyer.’ London Evening News.

That is a fine specimen of ‘the law of reversal’ and a dozen stories could be built upon it.

Not only is it proof that bandits can breed lawyers; it is also significant in that it reveals that bandits can be famous in U.S.A., whereas in this country they would surely be infamous.

Banditry in U.S.A. is, as we all know, a highly specialised profession.

It has been practised with great éclat in Hollywood and when I first met a professional ‘bumper off’ there many years before the war, all I could find to say to him was: ‘It’s a nice day, isn’t it?’ His answer was to the point: ‘And what in Heaven’s name do you expect in California?’ – only he didn’t use the word ‘Heaven’.

Well, it has always been hard for me to know how to hold light and airy conversation with professional murderers, especially when they are non-smokers and teetotallers, which they invariably are.