Kysen's own Sophie Bowkett has been trying something new. By day she looks after a busy portfolio of legal clients, but in the evenings and weekends since January she has been giving up her free time working pro bono for the 20th Anniversary Dulwich Festival. The arts event opened on 10 May and ends this weekend.

So what has it been like stepping out of her legal niche?

"It's been surprisingly different," she tells me. "Particularly the broadcast news story I worked on for BBC London. I am used to placing lawyers on BBC and Sky, but of course they are never the subject of the story. Even where we are the ones alerting a broadcast journalist to a story, our clients' role is always as expert commentator, not protagonist." A good example of more usual Kysen fare was Sallie Bennett-Jenkins QC's appearance on Sky this week explaining why Huhne & Pryce were being released so soon after their incarceration and how the law works in this area. 

"For the Festival our best (only!) hope for national and broadcast coverage was to push individual artists. This is how I came to be placing international street artist Thierry Noir on BBC London's regional news programme. Noir was the first artist to start applying paint to the Berlin Wall. How wonderful this local London Festival managed to snare him as one of its main arts celebs this Spring!  Working on his story gave me a perspective on broadcast programming I've never had before, as I was so much closer to the centre of the story because of course the production team had nothing to draw on other than the information I was feeding them. My client was the entire story, so it brought me into much tighter proximity with the production team. One particularly visual element of the festival is Baroque the Streets, a street art project involving internationally renowned street artists "re-interpreting" some of the Old Masters hanging in the permanent collection at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. So perfect for broadcast. This public gallery is in fact one of the oldest in England, so the art project creates a lovely juxtaposition of "old" and "new". As I watched the BBC team put the segment together, I was particularly struck by how many camera shots there were, how many different angles and locations, how much time was devoted to each: so many complex shots, lasting only seconds in the final cut!

"I've thoroughly enjoyed getting so involved in the Festival (although glad I will be able to put my feet up outside work after this weekend!) It'll be interesting to see how my new perspective impacts my broadcast work with legal clients."

Well, nice job Sophie! A great result and an unusual learning opportunity for you too!
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After all the headlines about relaxing planning laws to kickstart the economy, the rejection of Pinewood Studios expansion plan beggars belief! Sorry if you detect a hint of exasperation in my tone. But...really?? The film industry is one of our few growth industries; over 3,000 jobs might have been created if the expansion plans had gone ahead; and without the expansion these world-class film studios (where Skyfall was made, among other Bond films and hundreds of other classics, and where the new Star Wars film will be shot soon) will be faced with having to turn away lucrative Hollywood mandates for lack of space.

Better news for the UK in the world of film is the latest iteration of the Fast and Furious franchise in which London is apparently the biggest star. The film opens this weekend. The decision to use London for some of the key chase scenes was the result of Universal Pictures' decision to let the fans decide. If only Buckinghamshire council's planning committee had thought of this approach in deciding the fate of Pinewood Studios!
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How fantastic: a giant reading festival to be staged in Trafalgar Square this Summer! The free Get Reading festival takes place on one day - 13 July. It is organised by The Evening Standard (there's a reason this is one of our favourite papers!) and is designed for children and families "to experience the magic of being transported by story in an iconic setting". A line-up of famous authors is to be announced shortly.

Brilliant idea!

Bet you didn't know that some lawyers have been Living Below the Line. Holman Fenwick Willan's Matt Illingworth talked to me as he was just finishing a five-day challenge to manage on a daily food budget of just £1, to raise awareness - and much needed funds - for the worlds extreme poor.  An astonishing 1.4 billion people worldwide are living below the international poverty line, he told me.  That equates to 20 times the population of the UK.  I'll say that again: 20 times the population of the UK.  He is raising money for ChildHope, his firm's long-term charity partner, as part of the Live Below the Line campaign aimed at challenging the way people in the UK think about worldwide poverty.  

"I really wanted to do something meaningful for our firm's long-term charity ChildHope and when I heard they were taking part in the Live Below the Line project, I thought that would be perfect. We are so privileged in the West, and of course the legal profession in particular, that it's hard for us to comprehend how the other half lives. I'm well aware that my challenge is only for five days, so I'm not expecting to learn very much about what it's really like to be deprived of proper food.  For a surprisingly large number of people in the world this is a permanent state of affairs with little hope of better times.  And of course for me, while I am doing without food for this one short week, I am still living in a nice, safe place; I still have means to travel where I want to, or need to; and I am free to do pretty much as I please.  So what am I hoping this initiative will achieve?  Well, apart from raising money for the work of ChildHope and its ambition to help end extreme poverty, and apart from doing my bit to shine a light on the issue, I do have some personal goals.  I am hoping it will permanently change the way I look at things.  So far, my perspective has most definitely altered.  Certain things I just don't take for granted any more: the privileges laid on for us every day working in law firms, such as the free food on offer in our meeting rooms, laid on just as gestures of hospitality; the freedom we have in our lives because we don't have the constant struggle for the basics that so many do; and my view of the waste we accept as normal in the West has definitely changed.  I hope I don't lose this new perspective when my life returns to its usual routines. I certainly aim to be much more mindful of the resources at my disposal and wiser in how I use them."

Well Matt, we admire your dedication.  

If you would like to support Matt in his Live Below the Line challenge, you can make a donation here.  
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Looking forward to Toasting Gromit Unleashed with the best of the South West. Thank you  TLT!  In June I have been invited to pay a visit to Bristol to admire the giant fibreglass sculpture of Gromit that this leading South West law firm has sponsored (can't wait to see this). It will be one of a total of 80 Gromit statues "unleashed" in and around Bristol over the Summer, each one designed and created by a different artist, creating an awesome arts trail and an opportunity for the individual pieces to be auctioned off for charity.  TLT are good friends of Wallace & Gromit creators Aardman Animations having advised them for many years. This very cool event is part of Wallace & Gromit's Grand Appeal which is raising money for the expansion of Bristol's Children's Hospital.

"Cracking good job, Gromit!"
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Kysen has signed up for the Law-Society-sponsored London Legal Walk!  On Monday 20 May our team will be joining 6,000 or so others working in the legal profession on a 10km route through three of the Royal Parks and along Strand and The Embankment to raise money to fund free legal advice to those who can't afford to pay.   Last year's walk raised over 600,000 pounds.

In a time where we are seeing the legal aid budget dwindle before our eyes, such initiatives are needed more than ever.  The Law Society president herself has made this point emphasising the importance of legal charities such as advice agencies and pro bono centres.   

Are you walking the walk?  Do let us know.

Mike Blakemore gave me a completely new perspective on the power of the media this week. I spoke to Amnesty UK's Media Director as I paid a visit to their Human Rights Action Centre in Shoreditch this week on the day of their Young Human Rights Journalist of the Year Awards. Mike had just placed a segment on the Radio 4's Today Programme that morning on the Sri Lanka conflict and talked me through how it had worked. 

"The Sri Lankan authorities need to be held to account for government-sanctioned abuses and for their current crackdown on dissent. Our activity this week has focused on urging the Commonwealth not to hold its November Summit unless the country's human rights record improves. We believe Amnesty has a critical role to play in this regard. Ideally we wanted to be able to confront Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the UK, Dr Chris Nonis, directly on the programme. We discussed this with the producers and what we were able to do instead was to pose some questions to the presenter at the start of the program which the Today team was then able to pick up and put directly to Dr Nonis in an interview later on in the program. So this way we were able to set the agenda and make sure he was put on the spot to answer the points we felt he should be called to account for."

So less about raising Amnesty's profile then, and more about using press contacts and media opportunities to put the spotlight on different issues, make governments and individuals answer for what they are doing, or not doing?

"Absolutely. Profile-raising is important of course and it does have a place in our programme of media activity as you would expect as it is important for fundraising apart from anything else. But this other very different use of the media is a key part of our campaigning work. The media is a very very powerful tool and with skill we can use it to great effect in challenging and changing the status quo."

One of the reasons for my trip to Shoreditch was talk to be Amnesty UK about the upcoming Amnesty Media Awards on 11 June. They are keen to Increase their engagement with the legal community, not just because this campaigning organisation was founded both by a lawyer and on a legal principle: to uphold the rule of law worldwide, but also for a very practical reason when it comes to corporate sponsorship. 'We have an inherent difficulty when it comes to corporate sponsorship: one of our most important roles is holding corporates to account for their activities, alignments, relationships, etc as they may impact on human rights around the world. How can we do this on the one hand, when we are taking money from them with the other? However when it comes to lawyers it's a different story, because having a good level of defence whether innocent or guilty is a central tenet of human rights. Indeed robust convictions i.e. that are less capable of being unravelled after the event, depend on the accused having had a strong defence in the first place. This means we are much more comfortable taking sponsorship from law firms and lawyers. It just makes much more sense for us."  Of course this is where I thought I might be able to help so I had gone along to see if there might be any firms or  people I might usefully introduce them to.

The Amnesty Media Awards make for a spectacular event. They celebrate the best in campaigning journalism, both written and photographic. Regular followers of this blog will remember my post from the event last year and how inspired I was after an evening focusing on the heroism and altruism that you find in this part of the journalistic community. (A posthumous award was collected by wounded photojournalist Paul Conroy on behalf of his colleague war correspondent Marie Colvin who died in the course of covering their story about the Siege of Homs.) Last year's event coincided with the Leveson Enquiry and our TV screens at the time were being dominated by tales of journalist and other sleaze. A stark contrast indeed. Amnesty is trying to create a fund to enable more people to enter the awards. A donation of around £5000 could cover the entry fees for a number of worthy, talented but underfunded media teams that would otherwise not be able to enter.

"It's not just about making sure these people are rewarded for their work promoting human rights," says Mike, "but also, in a time where media and publishing budgets are so stripped back, these accolades, or the promise of them, can make a difference between teams being able to persuade their bosses at an expensive trip overseas should be funded, or not."

Want to make a difference? Do make contact with the team if you do.

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Congratulations to our friends at The Lawyer magazine for their shortlisting as Business Magazine of the Year at this year's PPA Awards! No surprise to us, as clients and friends in the legal profession continually feed back how much they love The Lawyer's coverage and I myself have said publicly how much I respect the way they have adapted their publishing model so successfully as the digital revolution has taken hold and news consumption habits changed so dramatically. They most definitely lead the legal field in this regard.

Good news also to see how Alex Novarese is shaking up Legal Business, launching a brand new website just months after taking over the role of Editor-in-Chief. He has also snared the mercurial but inimitable Charon QC to contribute regularly to the new look magazine. Looking forward to seeing what plans Georgina Stanley has in store for Legal Week, now she has had a few months to think about it since Alex left for Legal Business.

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To welcome the Spring, we have now set a date for our next Tonic event: drinks at the Hospital Club in Covent Garden on 22 May (6.30pm). Our Tonic group is exclusively for PR and marketing people in professional firms, designed as a forum for exchanging useful information and experience via LinkedIn and In Real Life. We have a number of new faces at Kysen so look forward to introducing them to our clients and friends at this event. 

If you work for a professional services firm in a marketing, PR or leadership role but have not yet joined Tonic, please do feel free to do so here.

I spoke to Property Week professional and legal editor Sarah Townsend this week, just as she stepped out of an exclusive press screening of Steve Coogan’s new film about "King of Soho" Paul Raymond. As a film buff, I was jealous. The Look of Love was not on general release until the weekend, so how had she managed to snare such a hot ticket? Answer: she was preparing to write a feature article about Soho Estates, the Soho property company that made Raymond’s fortune. The pornographer may have made his name in strip clubs, sex shops and his publishing empire, but it was his Soho property portfolio which made him, at one time, the richest man in the world - stretching far beyond merely the units he operated his businesses from. Sarah is interested in the tale of this company’s past, also its present and future now Soho has been transformed into something still vibrant and edgy, but also altogether more palatable (you can read her article, published on Friday, here.)

Today the Soho Estates portfolio encompasses an area of more than 60 acres across Leicester Square and Soho and is now owned by his grand-daughters and run by his son-in-law John James. Last year the company acquired the Foyle family’s portfolio of nine West End/ Soho properties, so still clearly has ambitions. And they are planning to develop one of the tackiest parts of Soho this year, ironically where Raymond’s empire first began with the Raymond Revuebar  in 1958.

“It’s a fascinating story how Raymond’s descendants are driving the company forward still with amazing ambition. Clearly the vision has changed, but I love how they are keen to preserve the best of Soho culture.”

“Their chairman today is now former London Mayoral candidate Steve Norris, who is always keen to stress the plan to keep the "heart" of Soho (that edginess and originality) just get rid of the sleaze. And there’s lots to play for of course with the Crossrail development at Tottenham Court Road opening up Soho to the North.

“My favourite part of the story is how Raymond was famously not a property man at all. He only bought property because he needed somewhere to invest the money he was making from his magazine empire. And because he didn’t understand property, he insisted on only buying assets within walking distance of the office! I love the fact that such a strategy could possibly result in one of the biggest property fortunes ever amassed!”

Well, I for one loved Sarah’s feature article and also plan to see the Look of Love over the next few days. I also look forward to watching the next chapter in the Soho Estates story unfold over the following months and years from my vantage point (did someone mention the roof terrace?) from neighbouring Covent Garden.

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I had fun accessorising this Thursday as I headed for three parties in one evening, each with different dress codes. It’s a hard life in PR! With just a pair of party shoes and some jewellery to transform my daywear come evening, and a black and grey cardie to dress down my party clothes for the nine-to-five, I was proud to meet the challenge so minimally.

First stop was the agency drinks at Berwin Leighton Paisner, an opportunity to get together with our counterparts working for different parts of BLP’s business (it’s all about improving the collaboration you know hic!); then Hardwicke’s Hat Trick silks party.  In true Hardwicke style, the thought of boring speeches was ditched early on in the party planning process and instead "thank yous" were delivered by a jaw-dropping, conversation-stopping video with a Blues Brothers theme .  Picture the three new silks shaking their tail feathers in various different venues around the inns and you'll get the gist.  Has to be seen to be believed.  Various legal issues are being checked as I write this (to do with intellectual property rather than defamation laws I promise you!), but as soon as these are cleared I will be sharing that video with you. 

Last stop in this glittering evening 's entertainment was the Dechert Spring Party courtesy of the always charming Andrew Hearn.  Andrew and I had reconnected at a Serle Court party last Autumn, for the first time since I left legacy firm Titmuss Sainer & Webb.  This really was a trip down Memory Lane.  I bumped in to people I hadn't seen for five, 10, 15 and (ahem) 20 years.  I felt chuffed so many were able to recognise me after all that time!  And delighted to be told I have now been placed officially on Dechert's Alumni list.

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On the subject of accessorising, exciting news from 7 Bedford Row: they are staging a fashion show to raise money for @RefugeCharity which works to help women and children under threat of domestic violence.

7 Bedford Row members and friends will be modelling clothes from two fabulous designers on 14 June. We’re promised bubbly, canapes, luxury, laughter and fundraising. Well, just my ticket! I’ll be there. 

I hear they are still looking for a celebrity compere, so if you have any ideas please do get in touch. 

The BBC’s Claudia Hammond wants lawyers to rethink their perception of time. Addressing a room full of professionals used to measuring their working life in six-minute segments, and all looking for a different way to do work and life (we were at one of Lawyer On Demand’s Life With Law events), the Radio 4 All In The Mind presenter, psychologist and author of Time Warped talked to us about how and why we perceive time the way we do and offered some clues as to how we can become the masters of our time, rather than time being our master.

Speaking to me before her presentation, Claudia posed this question: “Have you ever wondered why time flies when you’re having fun? Or slows down when you’re in distress? Survivors of car crashes typically talk about that critical 10 seconds leading up to the moment of impact and just afterwards seeming to last an age. Our perception of time is relative – depending on our level of busy-ness, the level of novelty in our environment or situation (because taking in new information requires more time as we need to create lots of new memories, which is why it can seem to take longer). Emotion slows down time also, as does a high body temperature, which is why time might appear to us to warp when we’re ill. But it is not straightforward either, as there can be a difference between our perception of time as it’s passing, compared to looking back and remembering. Something everyone can relate to is the phenomenon of "Telescoping", where we have trouble remembering precisely when a key event happened.” You can try this now. Which year would you say the following happened? Click on the links to find the answer: the Thailand tsunami, the bombing of the Twin Towers, the Chernobyl Disaster. This one will really shock you: when do you think was JR shot? “We tend to think key events happened more recently than they did – and then we feel old when we realise how long ago they were, blaming the ageing process for our failing memory. In fact it has more to do with the fact that memories of such dramatic moments are particularly vivid, unlike other memories from the same periods of time. They feel more like recent memories because of this.”

She also talked about another familiar phenomenon, “Planning Fallacy” – a posh word for people’s inability to estimate accurately how long it will take them to get a job done or reach a goal and their insistence that somehow in the future they will be less busy, more organised and generally have more time than they do now. Some awkward shuffling was heard in the room as she talked about this. 

In a time when solicitors are so challenged to find a better alternative for calculating the cost and value of their work than the billable hour, Claudia has really made me think. Yes, an hour of a City firm partner’s time may cost £400, but now I’m asking: how long is that hour anyway? Perhaps this is the point the in-house legal community has been trying to make all along. Maybe lawyers should be factoring in an element of Claudia's time warp and offering discounts for the hours that fly because they’re having so much fun. Now there's an idea... Could take the whole discussion to another dimension.
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An eerie atmosphere on Fleet Street and Strand early morning this Wednesday as the City prepared for Baroness Thatcher's funeral. Visiting friends on Fleet Street and in the Inns behind, I arrived early to avoid the rush and make sure I could cross the street given the police had closed the roads. It was not just the sight of this normally bustling area suddenly devoid of traffic that was so strange, but the noise as well. You could hear people's footsteps and unfamiliar echoes. Also to see 40 or so policemen, all in their best dress uniforms complete with custodian helmets (the classic Bobby helmets), stretching west to east for as far as I could see from Strand to Ludgate Hill added to the surreal aspect of the scene. 

A day of reflection and thankfully no serious disruption from the anti-Thatcher lobby. Unusual to see the City this thoughtful...

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Talking of Chernobyl, this weekend I'm looking forward to a charity fundraiser in support of Chernobyl Children's Lifeline, which provides respite breaks in the UK for the children still suffering today from the aftershock of the Chernobyl disaster. Now it's out of the headlines, we barely give these people a thought. But in the 27 years since the nuclear explosion, 300,000 people have been displaced and the social deprivation that has resulted is heartbreaking. Not to mention the heightened rates of cancer in this community.

Chernobyl Children's Lifeline organises recuperative breaks of four weeks at a time in the UK, willing families taking them in to their homes. A cousin of mine took in two young boys last Autumn and is keen to do her bit to fund more trips so is hosting a celebrity jazz night for the purpose. Click here to find out more about this charity, or here to make a donation. 

Editor of The Lawyer magazine Cat Griffiths says there's no room in publishing for doing things the way they've always been done. I was curious to know the thought process behind the change in how this leading legal magazine's circulation figures are calculated (since January its auditors count "audiences" not "readers") and also the rationale behind its website redesign this February. I had lots of questions to ask about the challenge for editors and publishers to keep up with the digital revolution and its impact on news consumption habits. Knowing some of the radical moves this magazine has made - at the start of last year it took the brave decision to break all news online, saving the weekly print edition for a more in-depth, analytical read - I wanted to know more about how The Lawyer  has approached adapting its model. Cat was kind enough to take time out from a busy press week to fill me in.

This woman is most definitely up for the challenge: "I find all of this so exciting!" She told me. "It gives you so much more scope to be creative than in a hard-copy-only title". Cat has always been a leader when it comes to creativity in legal editing and publishing, so I started to see how this latest revolution is really playing to her strengths. If you've been around as long as I have, you'll remember some of the classics from The Lawyer and also Legal Business, her previous editing role. As a bit of a cinephile, for me it tends to be the film references that most stick in the mind.  Who remembers which firm was represented using imagery from the then recently-released and highly controversial Reservoir Dogs?  Picture lawyers in monochrome suits, white shirts, black ties and shades, making their way manfully through some urban wasteland or other, and a headline echoing the strapline from the film promo posters "Let's Go To Work".  Also who remembers the illustrations for the story of Matrix Chambers launch with members dressed, of course, in those iconic max-length black leather coats. But Cat's smartest characteristic has always been her very cute sense of exactly who her audience is and what they are looking for from the people who deliver their news and analysis. Now it seems she is combining these two strengths to devastating effect. Did you know that whilst she has been pondering how to deliver content most effectively to her audience through The Lawyer's direct-to-mobile service and social media platforms, not only have web revenues risen over 50 per cent year on year - yes, you read that right! - but revenues from the print edition have actually risen by 15% since a redesign.  This is astonishing given virtually every other publication is having difficulties conserving revenues in print, let alone increasing.  Cat is also keen to point out that since its latest web redesign in February The Lawyer has increased its global reach by 17 per cent (this is in just six weeks) and global audience now accounts for 35 per cent of overall online users.  Impressive stuff.

"For us, circulation is not about readers, but audiences. Our weekly web audience is 89,158. Our total net multi-platform audience (ie through print and online) is 117,144. These circulation figures are audited by PwC and we are proudly transparent on our circulation/audience.  It's a subject close to our hearts as you'd expect.  People today engage with us on multiple platforms and so that's why we've changed the way our audited circulation figures are calculated.  For example a typical "reader" might receive breaking news throughout the day from our direct-to-mobile service, pick up certain other stories via our Twitter feed, perhaps check the website from a desktop PC a couple of times a week and also read the print edition on the train home on a Friday.  And what's really exciting is that in this digital age we can track user journeys through the website, see which stories are most read, and how much of a feature people read before moving on (by looking at how far they scroll), track where they go next. How even in some cases a big feature on a law firm collapse might drive a proportion of readers to our jobs pages!" She's joking at this point, but only partly. "The point is it enables us to get even closer to our audience and really understand what they are looking for and how they want to access that content. Of course it isn't always about giving them just what they want. sometimes it's about challenging those habits and saying - but you really must read this, it's important!" Well, would you expect anything less from a magazine that so proudly positions itself as the thorn in the profession's side?

"If I've learned anything on this journey is that it's a mistake to make assumptions. We were gob-smacked for example that our website revenue has risen so dramatically as a result of our new focus. Another myth is that digital content is always faster and cheaper to put together. We invest enormously in our analytical content and yes, a lot of this is best placed in the print magazine for that longer read" (we know one City firm Head of Finance who now likens The Lawyer print edition to The Economist, and Cat tells me this is not the first time she's heard this parallel) "but we've also seen how much of this content is often read in-depth online".

We love how The Lawyer publishes not only a list of its "Top 10 most read" stories, but its "Top 10 most commented on" too.  If you look at how content is organised in both print and online editions, let alone the chit chat between Lawyer writers and their audience on Twitter, you'll see that audience engagement shines through at every turn. And engaging people to this level with its content, and in so many different ways, goes to the heart of how The Lawyer maintains so much influence in the profession. Small wonder Cat is considered one of the most influential people in legal media.

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Lawyers got hot, cross and bothered over the Bar Council's  Guide to Representing Yourself In Court, released Easter weekend. The Guide was issued to coincide with the changes to (...ahem, withdrawal of) Legal Aid, which kicked in on 1 April.  It's no joke, I can assure you.  Lawyers abandoned their chocolate eggs and took to Twitter in droves, despite the bank holiday. The outrage was perhaps understandable, given the Bar Council exists to represent barristers' interests.  Why would it deem it appropriate to spend time, energy and precious resources helping members of the public circumvent proper legal representation?

We tweeted news of the Guide first thing on Easter Monday, and in the shake of a lamb's tail a hot debate had kicked off, continuing throughout the day. Take a look at The Bar Council's Guide here and tell us what you think.

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It's official! Kysen is now working for the man "with the best profile pic of any QC" according to the legal twitterati.  Hardwicke's PJ Kirby is shown here in full silk regalia, and clearly in a state of high excitement, on his way to the silks' inauguration. 

Hardwicke is known for being a breath of fresh air in the sometimes still stubbornly Dickensian world of the Inns of Court. Judging by the personality evident in this snap - and the fact that PJ is continuing to use it as his defining image in the Twitter-sphere - it seems that reputation is well-founded!

The Conversation is taking a break 

and returns Sunday 14 April