Mark’s blog

That's my first week "back to school" put to bed, and I'm into my first term weekend. My memory had conveniently erased the fact that I'd be spending most of my weekends studying at home or in the library. So I'm not particularly enamoured to be spending my Saturday reading through several hundred pages on pre-instruction steps that one needs to cover off with one's client on costs, fees, etc. before they can even consider suing someone. It's as enthralling as it sounds.

Term time also means no more lie-ins - if I've any hope of actually spending some time doing things I'd like to do (going to museums, meeting people for drinks, the odd booty-shake), it means a reasonably early Saturday start. I went for drinks with a friend in Islington last night. Settling into a new time zone with nice early mornings, I haven't been sleeping particularly well this evening. Memo to self: don't go drinking when you haven't eaten or slept. You'll be ossified on a single glass of wine. All the same, it was good fun, and great to spend some decent time relaxing and chatting in good company.

Arriving home at a reasonable hour and trying not to burn the house down with my drunken cookery skills, I popped a documentary on corporate governance into the DVD player. Now, I know it sounds about as exciting as civil litigation but, in fact, it was fascinating, and something I'd highly recommend you add to your watch list - taking the approach of a company as being a person (in the sense that corporate bodies do have discrete legal personality), the documentary goes on to investigate the type of person a corporation would be, with comment from across the spectrum and everyone from Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky to the former CEO of Royal Dutch Shell chipping in their opinions.

Which foods do you eat a lot of? Too much of? 
Submitted by Allishandra.

Wine. It is a food, isn't it? I think it counts towards my 5-a-day!

Who are the people you've worked with over the years that you'd list as your Coworker Superstars? Why'd they make the cut? 
Submitted by bodhibound.

That's a tough one - because I've been bloody lucky to work with some absolute superstars and in some great companies. The proof's in the pudding, the measure of which is the fact that I've made some absolutely wonderful friends among people I've worked with.

Why did they make the cut? Inevitably because they're fun people to be around, have a good sense of humour, a filthy mind, do what they do well, and are consummately individual.

Show us a snippet of something you're writing.

I'm doing some legal drafting at present. Confidentiality naturally prevents me from showing you a snippet of that, so here's a snippet of the governing law clause I use in my solicitor's training.

Governing Law

Tfl2

"Services are not expected to return to normal until Friday morning".

Tonight is officially my last night of summer.

It's strange, but I have a real feeling of trepidation, the sort that you always got on the night before going back to school each September. This might well be because I go back to school tomorrow. Also, it's September.

I start back on my Legal Practice Course tomorrow, so it's back to long days (on college days, the fun of getting up at 6.30am, and not getting back home until past 10pm that night), lots of hard slog, and being constantly knackered. It's also time to get back into "goodness" gear - trying to eat well, go to the gym frequently, and generally make the most out of what time I have.

After a wonderful summer - late nights and early mornings, good food, good drink, good company - I'm determined to try and get a better work-life balance than last year. I really enjoy my course, which helps get through it, but I also really enjoy going out and enjoying bachelorhood - and I need to ensure that, short days, cold weather and all - there's still room for fun & games!

It's been a good last weekend - rocking out at private karaoke last night, and really doing the pre-school rundown today, getting all the boring tasks out of the way (laundry, a big food shop, ironing, tidying & cleaning, trying to find where I dumped my pencil case 2 months ago), so we're ready to go tomorrow!

Show us one of your photos that you’d like to print out and frame.

Roquebrune cap Martin

Do you own all the albums of any particular musical artist or group? Who?
Submitted by dutterman.

Alcazar - I'm a sucker for Swedish pop.

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could never fail? 
Submitted by BeckyPink. 

Fly unaided. Or chat people up. Both could have their benefits, in their own unique ways, and I'm not particularly good at either.