Who let the cows out? Moo, moo, moo moo! Will Pip be caught out, and will Matt or Justin bowl a maiden over? Discuss The Archers here

[PseudoBadger]

'Ello pusscat!
I am eagerly anticipating Pip's downfall.

I'm depressed that reasonable, mature Tom has regressed with his spiteful blogs. Can understand why he's so angry, but even so.

Oddly enough I've always imagined that Usha's firm was modelled on the type of firm one would find in any big city, (Birmingham rather than Felpersham, say) with innumerable staff and partners and a broad range of expertise. (Can't recall if she advised Roy and Hayley as a favour or otherwise though)

She doesn't strike me like that at all.

AuldHeathen that was probably to become a solicitor-advocate, which means you get the same rights to appear in court and present cases as does a barrister. Usha could be a civil or a criminal specialist or both.

She really doesn't strike me as someone who has extended rights of audience in civil and criminal cases.

IAmNot, that sounds like it, a barrister-advocate. I kind of think Usha doesn't do criminal work but that's only because I don't recall her talking about that.

Re-Hayley and Roy, she said she couldn't act for them as soon as she heard her friend was involved. Elizabeth that is. No idea what else she said though. She just seemed a bit shocked IIRC.

The only scenes I recall where Usha's colleagues were portrayed and/or discussed was when Amy was shagging the married man, who was maybe a lawyer too? No other useful details are forthcoming. But maybe someone's memory will be jogged!

I'm not a lawyer so not familiar with how the legal profession operates in a large cathedral town in the Midlands but as I recall Usha came to Borsetshire to be Mark Hebden's partner in the practice he had just set up in Borchester. After Mark died (can't remember how long after) she got an offer from a big firm who wanted to buy the practice. She was automatically offered a partnership and started to spend a lot of time in Felpersham. Felpersham is supposed to be like Worcester, I think, so if anybody knows anything about solicitors' firms there that might be the model (or the SWs might be making it up as they go along, which I personally think is more likely).

Re who let all the cows out - have you seen this news story?

My point about Usha being able to take time off when she likes is that she does not have to answer to a boss who will approve or deny her leave. To the pp who said that clients would not appreciate being fobbed off to a junior at short notice, that's not how it works at all. For civil work (my understanding was that Usha was a commercial lawyer) then, unless you are talking sole practitioner style practice, every file will have a non-partner lawyer on it whose rate will be significantly less than the partner's and in fact clients tend to be unhappy if the partner does all the work themselves as this ramps up the fees too much. The partner supervises, controls overall strategy and takes the lead in client relations, but the "junior" is usually highly capable and the one driving things forward on a day to day basis. Yes, this is just one of many possible management and charging structures but it's by far the most common in legal practice.

gasp0de - can we blame Pip for that as well ?

Jessie, that really is not the norm in every firm, by any stretch of the imagination.

No it isn't. I'm a partner and my role is more than just supervising a junior.

Sorry posted too soon, but I agree with Ceto what Jessie is describing is definitely not the norm in every firm.

Gasp0 I was tempted to go all the way back to Mark yesterday - but suddenly couldn't remember if it really was his death that caused Usha to move on. Now I want to hear all those episodes again.

(I have been judging people who mis-spoke "Aisha" for Usha. But I see my phone is doing it automatically. )

I did not say it was the norm in every firm. In fact I expressly stated that it was not. Neither did I say that partners only supervised juniors. But hey, what would I know, only being a partner in a law firm?

Usha is fictional and I imagine that the SWs have never bothered to create a comprehensive back story for her professional set up. I was simply pointing out that an extremely common management model in law firms would explain the story line here. Your own practices are no more relevant than mine so no need to get into a fight about who is "right".

But hey, what would I know, only being a partner in a law firm?

As am, I in a large, city firm; but I didn't write a long post setting out a scenario and stating it is by far far the most common.

I do find Usha unconvincing as a solicitor.

One-upmanship amongst lawyers determined to brand other lawyers wrong must be very dull for most posters. Let's just agree to differ and move on shall we?

Why hasn't Lilian called the police about Matt? Surely he stole from her and is therefore a criminal?

Big LOLs to the conversation between Brine and Matt on the golf course.
" fully booked up for Easter if you were looking for a massage"
Brilliant delivery.

It's still not "by far the most common model" in solicitors' practices, Jessie. As I'm not going to get into the one-upmanship game, let's just say I do know what I'm talking about.

Why hasn't Lilian called the police about Matt? Surely he stole from her and is therefore a criminal?

She shouldn't have to - Harrison was the one attending the scene when Matt first buggered off with all her wine and paintings and money. Even Harrison can't be unaware that one of the main topics of village gossip, alongside IBR fisticuffs and Lilian & Justin, would be that Matt is back. I can't believe no one was talking about it while they were milling around at the open nets audition.

The wonderful thing about the cricket nonsense was that Usha was allowed to be in TA not just listening to Ruth. She had to do that too, of course, but it wasn't her only role.

Oh and the law thing: it's soap. Lawyers are lawyers for everything, just like doctors are doctors of everything, e.g. Karl Kennedy.

I don't think Matt could have cleared out Lilian's bank accounts unless they were either (a) joint accounts or (b) she had given him the passwords (or not kept their whereabouts from him). So I don't see that she'd have much comeback there.

As for the wine and paintings, I wonder if Lilian would have been in a position to prove that she bought them, not Matt. They were co-habiting and presumably had a joint contents insurance policy. As Lilian appeared to have no qualms at all about helping Matt to hide some of his assets from Yvonne during his divorce, I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that some of the wine and paintings were bought with cash that was never declared to the taxman.

I suspect the police would say that the issue between Lillian and Matt is all a civil issue and nothing to do with them.