by David Cooper
It never occurred to him that by replying in that manner, with a fair and reasonable explanation of why the firm’s losses on that file were not his fault, he might land himself in trouble. But half an hour later, as he stood in front of Squire’s desk and found himself on the receiving end of a forceful reprimand, he was left wishing that he could turn back time.
“Paul, I’m going to have to warn you about this. You can’t go around saying ‘I told you so’ to partners. You should have given Bill Wilson the information he wanted, and explained everything else to me rather than him.”
Craven was initially lost for words, then clutched at what he thought was a sensible point to make in return.
“Well…I just didn’t think that I should be blamed for something that’s not my fault. Caroline was the one who let it get that far, not me. And I did ask if it was OK to do something about the costs…”
Squire cut Craven off with an impatient wave of his hand. However much he knew in his own mind that another partner’s soft treatment of a favoured client had led directly to the firm losing out, he was never going to concede the point to a mere junior.
“You need to remember, Paul, that you’re only an assistant. Leave the bigger issues to me and the other partners. And get in touch with that expert and see if he’ll abate his fees.”
Craven squirmed at the thought of the distasteful task, and was on the verge of questioning what he had now been told to do. But Squire turned away and picked up a document. After a short and embarrassing silence, Craven realised that his summons to Squire’s office was over and that he needed to leave.
He tried to busy himself with client work for the rest of the day, but the thought that he had been treated as a scapegoat by a partner from another department left him sensing injustice. His dismay was compounded all the more when the expert witness replied later that afternoon, dismissing Craven’s request for a discount as impudent and asking for the supervising partner’s contact details so that he could make a complaint.
Monday 29 th April
“Hi Karen, it’s Lennie. I’m about to send you a copy of their Defence. I thought I’d give you a preview.”
“Thanks. Fire away.”
Lennie had received Avery’s Defence, the document setting out the formal grounds upon which Avery and Wave Recruitment would be resisting the claim, two hours ahead of the afternoon deadline. He had gone carefully through it to determine exactly what documents he could now force Avery to disclose, under the next round of the court timetable, before calling Karen.
“Breach of contract has gone, for a start. He’s not going to try to argue that you sacked him or pushed him out.”
“I take it that’s good.”
“Up to a point, yes. But it just shows what a damned cheek it was for him to raise it at the injunction hearing. If we get to trial, we should be able to hold that against him.”
“I should think so. Anything else?”
“Well, he’s sticking to the same line over the paralegals. Still saying they all followed him. And he’s denying that he tried to destabilise Dawn, of course.”
“What about Gemma Gabriel and the other solicitor candidates?”
“He’s sticking to the same line. He’s claiming that he cold called Gemma after someone tipped him off in confidence that she was about to start looking around. Says he never asked her for any exclusive rights. Just what you’d expect. And he’s making out that all the others followed him too.”
“OK.” Karen paused. “I’m still trying to find Gemma a new job. I’ll see what she makes of that when I next hear from her.”
“You might want to take the initiative on that one, rather than just wait. Then there’s what he says about Paul Craven.”
Karen fleetingly thought of Squire again and winced.
“Anything surprising?”
“Not really, just more stonewalling. Says Craven followed him after he’d left, pretty much the same as the paralegals. Nothing but a bare denial of everything else, what Dawn thought she saw, the diary entry, all that. Gives me an idea, though.”
“Go on.”
“I could always ask them outright for the exact date on which they interviewed Craven. Obviously Avery won’t have been there, and he might say the arrangements were all made over the phone and nothing was ever written down. But he can’t get over the fact that he introduced Craven to Bastables, and that their Lewis Hackett sidekicks are acting for him. It’s not as if he can’t get the information if he asks for it. If he ducks the question altogether, he’s going to look really shifty.”
“Even more than usual?” They both laughed. “So what happens next?”
“Disclosure of documents in two weeks’ time. You and he will both need to disclose anything that’s relevant to the issues, whether it’s helpful or harmful. You’re not likely to have anything to fear, but he might have a few smoking guns, and I’ll be doing my best to find them. Then we’ll exchange witness statements three weeks afterwards. Which means that four weeks before the trial, everyone’s cards will be on the table. And if you’re still convinced you’re in the right, and he is too, it means everything’s going to come down to who the judge believes at trial…”
* * * * *
Craven looked at his watch and noticed that it was a few minutes after 5.00. He was due to attend a monthly gathering of his local Aspergers support group later that evening, and was aware that this would be the first session since he had started in his new job. He had worked out that an earlier train would ensure that he would arrive well in time for the meeting, rather than leave him cutting it fine.
Anxious to be in with a chance of achieving his monthly billing targets for April, he had worked through his lunch hour without a break. Although office hours were not officially over until 5.30, his conscience was clear. He was aware that Squire and the other partners had all left the departmental floor for a full partners’ meeting an hour earlier.
Briefcase in hand, he turned out his office light and closed the door behind him. As he made for the exit to the main stairs, he noticed Hutchings ahead of him standing next to a water cooler, speaking to an officious looking middle aged woman in a dark jacket. He was in no mood to acknowledge the trainee with whom he had fallen out almost as soon as they had first met, and avoided eye contact even when Hutchings ostentatiously shook his head and made a tutting noise as he walked past. But he was almost immediately pulled up in his tracks.
“Excuse me.”
The voice was slow and unnaturally loud, and clearly belonged to the woman to whom Hutchings was talking. Craven had never met her before. He had no idea that she was the firm’s long serving secretarial supervisor, Judith Sandford. He stopped and turned round.
“Yes?”
“Where are you going?”
Craven was in a dilemma. He had always been naturally polite to strangers who spoke to him, and sensed that he would not be doing the right thing if he simply ignored his questioner and walked off. But he made little attempt to disguise his annoyance when he answered.
“New Street Station.” He hesitated and thought he had better add something more. “I worked my lunch hour.”
“It’s not half past five yet. You’re not supposed to go until half past five. It looks really bad for trainees to be sloping off early.”
It may have been the insolent look on Hutchings’ face, as he listened in on the conversation, that finally made Craven snap.
“I’m not a trainee, I’m a legal exec! Who are you to ask, anyway? You’re not a partner, are you?”
It was evident that the secretarial supervisor was unaccustomed to hearing herself addressed in such terms. Ignoring the fact that she had jumped to conclusions as a result of Hutchings’ games, she let her personal sense of her own importance carry her away as the nearby secretaries looked up from their screens in amazement.
“How dare you…”
But her outburst fell only on thin air as Craven’s frustration overcame him and he wa
lked off, breaking into a trot as he left the office. Ten minutes later, he sank onto a platform bench and watched the early train pull out of the station without him, his plans in ruins and another enemy accidentally made.
Wednesday 1 st May
To Karen’s relief, she soon found another chance to contact Gemma Gabriel. A law firm had expressed interest in interviewing her, having read the anonymised CV that Karen had circulated. Once Karen had broken the welcome news, she had an enthusiastic response to her request for Gemma to glance through Avery’s Defence.
‘No idea where he gets that from…I certainly never told anyone at Lewis Hackett I was looking for a new job through Ripple…maybe someone jumped to conclusions because I wasn’t at the IT systems induction day…I’m still standing by every word I told you about Avery’s cold call…”
Karen was anxious to understand more of the background, hoping to minimise Avery’s chances of evading the allegation that this must have involved him misusing Ripple data. She soon had the further explanation she was looking for.
‘This was the big computer project before the firms merged. Everyone at Lewis Hackett had been told to book a slot at Bastables, morning or afternoon, one Thursday in March to come in for training on the new computer systems. I was exempted because they were planning on letting me leave early at the end of March, even though they were keeping it a secret. I’d told no one else by then apart from my secretary…Don’t know if it might help, but here’s the memo…’
Karen glanced at the date of the internal email that Gemma had sent her. She saw that the computer induction training at Bastables had taken place on 21st March, three days after Avery had walked out on her. It was still possible that Avery could have been fishing for information through proper channels, so soon after taking the plunge in his new venture. But she saw no reason to give him the benefit of the doubt, knowing that Gemma had clearly been on her books as an active new candidate at the time when Avery had left. She skimmed through the rest of the memo out of curiosity before forwarding Gemma’s email to Lennie, asking him to let her know if any of it was worth exploring further.
Three hours later, Karen had an unexpected response from Lennie.
‘This will amuse you. Maybe something’s rattled them? Just about to go into a meeting. Will catch up later.’
She clicked on the attachment and discovered that it was a letter inviting her to call off hostilities. But not in terms that she would ever be prepared to accept.
‘Dear Sirs
Without Prejudice Save As To Costs
You will by now have had an opportunity to consider our clients’ Defence.
It ought to be quite clear to you by now that your client’s case is fatally flawed. All of the candidates in question chose to follow our client. The ancillary allegations that you have raised on your client’s behalf are either of a trivial nature, or simply not supported on any reasonable interpretation.
Accordingly, if your client chose to take this case all the way to trial, she is likely to be facing a substantial liability in costs following the dismissal of her claim.
Our client is, however, prepared to allow yours to reconsider her position and withdraw this claim now. In return for this, our client will agree to bear his own costs as incurred to date, including the costs of your client’s failed injunction application, which is more than generous in the circumstances.
This proposal is open for acceptance for a period of seven days only, failing which we will simply continue with the next rounds of the procedural timetable and prepare for trial. In the event that the outcome of trial proves better for our client than the proposed consequences of this letter, we will produce a copy of this letter to the court…..’
Karen’s response to Lennie was succinct.
‘No deal. He knows he’s got something to hide. I’m not letting this go now unless he agrees to leave my clients alone for the full twelve months and pay up for the ones he’s stolen already.’
Lennie had not expected anything different, but he hoped that Karen would not allow emotion to prevail over common sense in the event that a better offer came in at some later stage. Her concise instructions to reject the offer would, at least, be a useful opportunity for him to remind his opponent that he was still waiting to be told how Avery came to introduce Craven and when Bastables interviewed him.
Thursday 2 nd May
When Craven looked up and saw Squire coming into his office, he felt apprehensive, all the more so when Squire chose to wait beside the filing cabinets while Craven finished a phone call. But Craven soon discovered that his departmental head was paying him a visit to dispense praise rather than criticism.
“I’m really impressed with this, Paul.” He held up the wallet of month end billing templates that Craven had completed and sent for Squire’s approval earlier that morning, only one working day after the new month had begun. “Sometimes I have to chivvy people along for the best part of a week before they get their fingers out and get the bills in. Let’s face it – we’re not a charity here, we’re a business, and I’m glad you realise that!”
Craven smiled weakly. He felt strangely reassured to hear Squire’s familiar braying laugh as he handed Craven the authorised billing templates. It simply had not occurred to Craven that no one else in his department would be as quick off the mark to address the task. He did not think he had done anything more than comply with proper procedure. Embarrassed at Squire’s praise, he could not stop himself thinking of something less favourable.
“I’m sorry about MDV Precision going bust…”
“Can’t be helped. It wasn’t your fault.” Squire cut him short and consulted a note. “Let’s see now, allowing for the fact that we discounted your first week, and even with that client falling by the wayside, you’re pretty much exactly on target. Well done. At times like this, I’m happy to forget that you can sometimes piss people off without realising it!”
“Er…what do you mean?” Craven blushed.
“Oh, nothing to worry about. Strictly off the record, members of staff like Judith Sandford can be far too full of their own importance. With some people, just think before you speak and you’ll be OK.”
Craven could not work out whether Squire was criticising him over the incident earlier that week, or treating it as closed. He wondered whether Squire himself was abiding by the same principle he had just described. He nodded his head and hoped that the conversation would soon be at an end. But his unease was not over yet, as Squire continued with his well intended praise.
“I certainly think you deserve a pint tomorrow lunchtime…” Squire caught himself, remembering that word had got back to him that Craven had been conspicuous by his absence from both of the two previous weeks’ Friday sessions, not only the occasion where Squire himself had made an appearance after Avery’s courtroom success. “How come we don’t get to see you on Fridays? The social side’s just as important. Where do you get to?”
“Er…” Craven squirmed inwardly at the thought that his carefully arranged but wholly platonic trysts with Jackie Browning might be of any interest to his head of department. Or indeed any of his business. “I just don’t like noisy pubs…well, I don’t really like pubs at all…”
A curious look crossed Squire’s face, but before he could answer, he was interrupted by his secretary bustling in and handing him a note. Leaving Craven in limbo, he strode back to his office and picked up his phone.
“Yes, Tony?”
“I’ve just read the letter you sent to Paul Craven offering him the job.” Squire quickly realised that Wagstaff was calling him about Avery’s court action. The smug undertone was a giveaway. “Nice error over the interview date, eh? I’m just about to use it to fob off an information request. Suits Wayne’s purposes right down to the ground.”
“I couldn’t possibly comment.” Squire laughed out loud. “Doesn’t trouble a man of your lofty professional standards, does it?”
“Not in the slightest.” Wags
taff knew that he and some of his best clients had sailed very close to the wind in recent years. He was equally aware that Squire had shown himself not only familiar with local rumours about his reputation when the two firms had first discussed merging, but also markedly unconcerned. “We know this is an insurance job. As long as we can give them the impression it’s at least fifty-fifty, they’ll have to keep the cover in place under the policy terms. And as long as cover’s in place, I’ll gladly milk this case to the last drop. What they don’t know can’t harm them. Anyway, Rufus, all’s fair in love and war when it involves your ex-girlfriend!”
“Tony, you’re a cheeky bastard!” Squire kept his voice low but burst out laughing once more as he shared in Wagstaff’s private joke. “Keep me posted. With a bit of luck, she’ll throw in the towel by the end of the month.”
* * * * *
Lennie read the answer to his outstanding query about Craven’s interview date, and felt a sense of dismay come over him.
‘We consider this to be a request for evidence, not information, and accordingly improper. In any event our client has no direct personal knowledge of the date upon which Mr Craven was interviewed. He was, however, copied in on the offer letter to Mr Craven dated Thursday 21st March, which refers to an interview on that date. A copy is enclosed. This is, of course, entirely consistent with our client’s case, namely that Mr Craven followed him after he left your clients’ employment, so we trust that this line of enquiry is at an end.’
