Not free from doubt

Office anthropology™ →Go uptown The JC puts on his pith-helmet, grabs his butterfly net and a rucksack full of marmalade sandwiches, and heads into the concrete jungleIndex: Click ᐅ to expand: Work anthropology Tell me more Sign up for our newsletter — or just get in touch: for ½ a weekly 🍺 you get to consult JC. Ask about it here.

A worked example of the buttocractic oath from those in private practice.

Usually uttered in a legal opinion — you will find them buried on a footnote on page 236 of the third schedule to a netting opinion — this is a fee-earning lawyer’s way of saying what she is obliged to say to achieve a commonsense outcome, where the law she is opining on plainly says something else.

I have fees to earn and so, even though this is patent nonsense, I will say it anyway, couched around in mealy language not of doubt, but the lack of complete freedom from doubt in a way that gives my professional indemnity insurers and me plausible deniability should anyone ever take the point.

See also

• Buttocractic oath
• Netting opinion