Rise in eastern European workers

With unemployment, particularly among the young, a major problem and with the Government pushing long term disability claimants to seek work, it is no surprise that there is anger about the influx of workers from Eastern Europe. However, European law and freedom of movement of people in the EU means there is a limited amount that can be done about this kind of immigration.

Here are some headline facts :-

• Net immigration is at it’s highest level for more than 5 years
• low-skilled workers numbers have more than doubled in the last 9 years
• a 60-fold influx has occurred from 8 Eastern European countries that are the most recent to join the European Union
• The overall immigration figure last year was 242,000
• 1 in 5 low-skill jobs are taken now by individuals who were born outside the UK

One the questions which most of my friends ask is whether skype is secure. Skype states in  most of the Technical Magazines or Journals that they use trusted high 256 BIT AES encryption strength to encrypt the conversations and they also use their own protocol which is proprietary of skype. However, Skype may be set up so as to be able to disclose call recordings if forced by law to do so, for example perhaps suspected communications between terrorists .

The consensus seems to be that skype is generally a lot more secure than other phone lines available, especially mobile phones, as the recent and high publicity News of the World hacking scandal has clearly shown, and that MIM Attackers would find it impossible to decipher a conversation and encryption cannot be disabled.

We all have problems of one form or another. Not all problems can be resolved but it is also generally true in our view that a problem ignored is not a problem which simply goes away.

We will be updating the site regularly with current or interesting examples of problems and the way they have been dealt with. We will also be highlighting organisations who we have found to adopt a proactive approach to different kinds of problems. These are not intended as recommendations, simply as a showcase for different approaches to problem solving.

Unusual approach to divorce advice ….

Lloyd Platt & Co are divorce solicitors in London. The firm does not underestimate the seriousness or the emotional impact of divorce, which is immense. However, divorce law is a little like making a will. Nobody enjoys making a will or thinking about the resaons for making a will, yet death is a reality and ins ome instances divorce is a reality. Lloyd Platt & Co take the view that divorce and family law should be dealt with with practicality and realism to the fore. The firm has an innovative approach which includes, amongst other things, the provision of divorce and pre-nuptial vouchers which can be purchased for ad hoc advice. Taking good advice amounts to taking control and responsibility.

Problems for law firms & legal innovation

Many small and medium law firms are under threat like never before.. the threats seem to come from 3 sources. First and foremost there is the hard fact that there seem to be too many solicitors now and less work due to the recession. Secondly comes the threat from non legal organisations entering the legal market due to take place this year This could include organisations such as banks, insurers, the AA or supermarkets (hence the oft cited issue of  “tesco law”). It’s the 3rd problem we are interested in.. this is the issue of many lawyers lack of interest and/or distaste for marketing. This passivity has resulted in many online legal brokers or aggregators whodo the lawyers marketing for them and then sell the leads to the law firms…. the problem for law firms is that generally, the main beneficiaries of this situation are the brokers and lawyers lose control of their own destiny. Possible innovative solutions to this particular issue include :-

• Interactive legal documents whioch lawyers can offer as a solicitors marketing tool to compete with the numerous online legal document sellers
• Fully completed websites including content and relevant and numerous inbound links which can compete with the legal broker sites and which giv ethe law firm which buys or leases the site control over their marketing and long term online destiny. Examples of these types of sites are solicitors in Manchester or a law firm in Dudley. Many of these types of sites are very comprehensive in terms of free content and legal guides.

Back to basics

Innovation is fantastic but innovation and gaining new clients is only one part of the equation. In an ever increasingly competitive world, the clamour to compete with other businesses in the same field on every possible way can be overwhelming. this can result in the problem of losing sight of the basics. New i.d interior designers approach seems to be fundamenatlly about their reputation. To this business, reputation is everything, and we have come accross many of thier clients who testify to this company’s desire to provide a fantastic level of service, by going the “extra mile”. This is the philosophy based on the theory that a happy client will always recommend other clients.

Dealing with preconceptions

Solicitors are not the only service providers who can easily be misunderstood in terms of perception. Another linked industry is that of investigators. Think of investigators and this generally conjures up …….

However, there are many different types of investigation type services, which can range from fraud investigation through to transactional due diligence or computer forensics.