In the chambers of a District Judge at the County Court at Barnet (formerly known as Barnet County Court…), hung a picture frame; and in that picture frame was a limerick of the Kilkenny Cats as an ode to the nature of litigators and litigation, probably best avoided by keeping a cool head, applying emotional intelligence and negotiating.
Why you should always try to settle disputes without reverting to full-blown litigation:
There once were two cats of Kilkenny,
Each thought there was one cat too many,
So they fought and they fit,
And they scratched and they bit,
Till, excepting their nails
And the tips of their tails,
Instead of two cats, there weren’t any.
Professor David Rosen is a solicitor-advocate and principal of David Rosen & Co. He is a member of the Society of Legal Scholars, the Royal United Services Institute, and Resolution, amongst others. He regularly lectures as an honorary professor of Law at Brunel University in counter-fraud and counter-corruption.