The quote of the week comes from a UK law firm gossip site of sorts, RollOnFriday. In an article about Linklaters being the best-branded law firm according to a survey carried about by Superbrands to find the top 500 brands in the UK, a spokesperson is quoted:

“Blah blah blah, delighted to have been named, blah blah blah, recognised by the market, blah blah blah, quality of service.”

The amusing take on law-firm speak brightened up our day here at Folklaw.

Linkies’ brand was sufficiently well-recognised, putting it in 259th place on the list. The 258 brands which beat it included Sellotape, Blu-Tack and Chubb Security.

Clifford Chance came in at 296, followed by Eversheds at 309, which means the Shed has a better-recognised brand than Slaughter and May, Freshfields or Allen & Overy — no doubt the result of the broad national spread of its business.

A spokeswoman for Linklaters wouldn’t comment on why its logo is pink.

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All that glitters turns gold

The Irish Government has nominated a barrister who charged it 2,000 euros ($3,258) a day for appointment to the High Court.

Dan O’Keeffe was paid 379,000 euros ($617,180) for chairing the Public Service Benchmarking Body, and earned 164,000 euros ($267,064) in 2006, including a one-off “reading in” fee of 35,000 euros ($56,996). Last year O’Keefe earned 215,000 euros ($350,108) for working an estimated 107.5 days. This is the chairman of the body that ruled out salary increases for teachers, nurses and other public servants.

The barrister’s daily rate as chairman of the benchmarking group is on a par with high-earning tribunal lawyers who earn up to 2,500 euros ($4,071) a day. In contrast, the six ordinary members of the benchmarking body were paid an annual flat fee of 30,000 euros ($48,850).

The department’s figures put the total cost of the benchmarking process at 2.36 million euros ($3.84 million), with consultancy fees of 1.52 million euros ($2.47 million) accounting for the bulk of the costs. The biggest contracts were to Hay Group Ireland, which earned a fee of 381,985 euros ($621,867) over two years, while Mercer Consulting was paid 493,050 euros ($802,596), the Irish Independent has reported.

The ghostly truth

It’s good when the most obvious solution reveals itself and dismisses all the crazy ideas we may have had. Or so Romanian cops must have felt when they discovered the real reason behind vandalism behind some local housing. Police have closed the vandalism investigation upon realisation of the real truth: ghosts were behind it.

Families living in Lilieci reported windows broken, bicycles flying through the air, objects moving on tables and candles blown out when there is no wind.

When they complained they were being hounded by evil spirits to police they were laughed at. But after officers saw the evidence with their own eyes they filed a report saying that ghosts were to blame.

Mircea Hadimbu, 68, who says his house has now been completely wrecked, said: “The windows started to break one by one. I saw two bicycles moving through the air on their own.”

His sister Melentina Bocancea, 78, who lives nearby, added: “There were cups flying around the house and candles I lit were blown out as soon as I put a match to them even though there was not a breath of wind in the house,” Ananova reports.