Never mind redundancies, profit cuts and belt-tightening — lawyers are still indulging their love of high-living and excess.

There was the tale of the lusty lawyer who was the victim of death threats when he unwittingly pulled the girlfriend of a Russian gangster in a top West End nightspot. And the lawyer fired when a colleague found a drawerful of cocaine in her desk.

The catalogue of sex and debauchery at some of the UK’s best-known law firms is contained in this year’s annual quiz by Legal Business, a trade magazine, published today.

Its 9000 readers are being asked to identify the culprits, who range from the City law firm manager who thanked staff for “working like blacks” and the partner and devoted family man who outed himself as a “bit gay” at a press party.

Mindful of lawyers being the most litigious of groups, the answers, as usual, will remain confidential.

James Baxter, editor of the magazine, said: “While the credit-crunch may have impacted upon law firm profits it has had little impact upon the moral codes of some of their lawyers.

“With the threat of redundancy hanging over many lawyers in the UK, HR teams will be scouring our Christmas Quiz for any clues. Quiet pride or private turmoil, the answers will as ever remain under lock and key.”

The tantalising posers include:

* Which major City firm partner regretted letting a female client sit on his lap at a party when she drunkenly relieved herself on his trousers? The next day he received an email from the blissfully unaware individual thanking him for a lovely evening.

* An associate at which UK firm was fired when an unsuspecting colleague found a drawer full of cocaine in her desk?

* Which member of a leading City firm’s management board reacted to its excellent financial results by sending out an email thanking staff for ’working like blacks’?

* Having overindulged in the champagne at a client event, which leading private equity star "borrowed" the keys to a colleague’s Ranger Rover and then proceeded to crash it? The same partner finished an all-night bender by being refused entry to Stringfellows because it was 4pm and the club didn’t open for another six hours.

* Which City firm reacted to a client’s failure to pay its fees by taking a large group of junior lawyers to a bar owned by the client? Having drunk the bar dry, they left without paying the bill.

* Which US firm managing partner’s hotel check-out led to an awkward silence with a prudish female colleague when the desk staff queried his £400 in-room adult TV bill? He had cycled through all 48 movies to get back at a troublesome client, whom he mistakenly thought was footing the bill.

Mr Baxter said: “The era of phenomenal law firm profits may be fast fading and firms may be shedding staff in ever increasing numbers, but one thing can be still be relied upon the excesses of individual lawyers.

“The legal profession’s reputation of high-earning and fast-living lawyers remains intact."

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