Strip 10382 was published in the Evening Standard in January 1999
Peter Cole, the firm's lawyer, seems to spend
most of his time advising clerks not to sue. Amongst his judgments are:
Advising Bristow that he did not have a case against the proprietary
tonic “Fullasun”; who used a picture amazingly like Bristow
in their poster campaign
Advising Jones that, although he was indeed
injured during the firm's time, the injury was caused through a non-approved
activity (a game of desk top football)
Advising Bristow that the loss of his precious manuscript Starf
Wars in a terrible accident at publishers Heap
and Trotwood (when they burned it rather than read it) was not actionable.
Mr. Cole cites the binding legal precedent of the paperwork lost in
the Great Tea Trolley Disaster
Advising Bristow that kicking a radiator in order to get it going,
and thereby sustaining a serious injury to his foot, would not be good
grounds for an action. This particular case featured a conspiracy with
Jones (as witness) and the nurse (medical expert)
who opined that "Between the three of us we can take the firm for
every penny its got". Alas the cunning plan fails at the first
hurdle.
Advising Bristow on the international law concerning the hi-jacking
of tea-trollies
He is also called in when Bristow fears he has become known as the
firm's scrounger - we do not however see the results of this particular
consultation, as Bristow seems happy enough with the designation.
Mr. Cole would appear to be a bit of a crawler in his own way, perhaps
fitting in with his permanent support for the management as evinced
by the examples above. When, in strip 5527 (November 1979) Toady
Thompson proposes at the Sports and
Social Club AGM that a statue be erected to the founder of the club,
it is Cole who is the seconder. And he is pleased when asked by a colleague
to augment the firm's standard contracts with the phrase "zero
tolerance". In short, the fearless defender of the people he ain't.
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