All Carried out

The gowns! The hair! The relationships! Can you find “The One” for your transatlantic tie-up? Who is going to get dumped? And just who is BIG?

Yes, not to be outdone by the West End, Lex and the City mania captured the romantic but feisty imagination of our City of London lawyers last week. You could see grown women associates drooling in Starbucks over those oh-so-sexy shots of Lord Matravers as he strutted his stuff (that is, the woolstuff) in that funky Betty Jackson creation.

Meanwhile, rumours that Philip Treacy was about to be commissioned to design an optional, “law lite” bonnet based loosely on his hat for Sarah Jessica Parker’s premiere appearance were still circulating in Chancery Lane at the end of last week.

Of course, there were concerns that the have-it-all-lifestyle of thirtysomething lawyers, constantly flitting from one firm to another in search of the elusive perfect partnership — but still prepared to stay up all night to do the deal — might be coming to an end,as firms like Bevan Brittan began to make redundancy announcements.

But that did not overconcern the Mr Bigs in the top firms who announced further steep rises in their profits. Yes, an era may be coming to an end but we can look forward to replaying the DVDs (of firms’ recruitment films) for years to come. And, in our memories at least, the credit crunch summer will always be bathed in the memory of Carrie (aka Clifford Chance), Samantha (Linklaters), Miranda (Freshfields) and Charlotte (Allen & Overy) now being rated truly — at least in The Lawyer — as the “Transatlantic Elite”.

Black out

Now that I have broken my golden rule of this being a “celebrity-free” column (although, of course, you are all celebrities to me), I have to ask what does it take for a celeb to get into serious trouble with the law?

Courtesy of Sue Stapely, the legal PR queen, I got early notice last Wednesday that Amy Winehouse — who is advised by Brian Spiro, a partner at the criminal firm BCL Burton Copeland — was not to be prosecuted in connection with the video of her apparently taking drugs that was on the website of The Sun. Memories came back of the Kate Moss affair. Canny lawyers I spoke to at the time said that no harm would come of it and her career would probably benefit after the initial hoo-ha. They were right.

Giving freely

Can my reader please explain what the next story means? Apparently, Olswang has signed up to the concept of “zero-loss giving” where corporate organisations give to charity without any cost to themselves. This is done through a company call Fund it Frog, which, it is claimed, “works by signing approved marketing affiliate agreements with major retailers — meaning prices are exactly the same as those found at all other approved affiliates. But Fund it Frog gives half of its commission to the charity of the buyer’s choosing.”

So Olswang is the first law firm to buy into this. Couldn’t they just hand the hat round at the partners’ away day?

Ciao bella

Another entrant to the seductive but tricky Italian market is Collyer Bristow, which has just done the business so that Milan fashion house Etro SpA could acquire space in Old Bond Street for its flagship store. No doubt the Bigs will be coming around soon.

edward.fennell@yahoo.co.uk

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