THE TIMES OF MISINFORMATION

Lawyers are invariably consulted regarding the small print in documents especially when clients have signed a piece of paper without reading its contents and regrettably it returns to bite them later. In the family law context, however, it is rare for solicitors to have this problem as the English divorce laws fail to recognise contracts such as pre-nuptial agreements.

Once upon a time or was it yesterday, I had a nightmare of a day with clients continuously enquiring about a new law that excludes men from the upbringing of their children. Imagine, I had distraught fathers on the telephone and implacably hostile mothers queuing up to make appointments. Worse still, for the first hour I had no idea what anyone was talking about. I know that the Government seems to be constantly sneaking in pieces of legislation without notice but to have been given no warning at all?

Then it twigged. Just like contracts, clients had been ignoring the small print and reading the headlines only, for which see the photograph above.