MYTHS AND MONSTERS

Halloween is a good time to release the result of a survey on superstitions. So today it’s revealed that we sensible British people still cross our fingers to avoid bad luck; believe in fate and ghosts; are convinced that various governments are complicit in a global plot to avoid telling us about little green men from Mars or other extra terrestrials but generally are dismissive of the idea that number 13 is unlucky. Now I find that strange. When I first started out in my career a rather learned senior practitioner impressed upon me that it was tempting fate to have 13 paragraphs in a legal document; you can have more or less, but never 13. You know what? I took this to heart, and so far as I can recall none of my affidavits, petitions or statements ever have. Now I’m sure it is just superstitious twaddle but would you really want your solicitor to take the chance with your case?