21 December

Carol corner 

This time it’s Morrison Foerster’s turn to be featured with some beautiful renditions of all your favourites.

Charity corner

Here’s a fascinating piece by reporter Lucie Cruz on the experiences of Linklaters secondees to the Free Representation Unit (outside the paywall, and includes a link to donate to the FRU’s work).

Meanwhile, Osborne Clarke partner Will Gunston and his family baked a spectacular gingerbread house complete with a snowman and candy canes! Colleagues can enter a raffle to take this glorious creation home in time for the holidays, as part of festive fundraising efforts to raise all important funds for Osborne Clarke’s London location charity, The Childhood Trust.

20 December

What says a Christmas party more than champagne? Bellevue Law celebrated its Christmas dinner, with lots of laughter, drinks and welcoming new starters.

17 December

Carol corner

Today it’s the Sidley Singers of Sidley Austin with something a bit different. Group founder Sara George explains: “A key differentiator of the Sidley Singers is our investment in new music. This year we commissioned a new Christmas Carol, ‘A City of London Carol,’ composed by Bernard Hughes, with words written by the poet and barrister Andrew George KC, and had its world premiere performed this week.

“A City of London Carol is inspired by the sights and sounds of the Square Mile, transposing the traditional elements of the advent story (shepherds, wise men and a baby’s birth) to the bustling, vibrant and atmospheric weekday evenings of the City.”



Charity corner

Here’s a nice Christmassy story: dispersed firm Aria Grace Law has become the first to become a community interest company (CIC) to lock in its commitment to donating all profits to charity. The firm is on track to donate at least £200,000 this year to its charities including AGE UK and the Trussell Trust.

Being a not-for-profit CIC means Aria Grace is subject to oversight by the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies and has to deliver an annual report evidencing that it is delivering on its objectives.

Founder Lindsay Healy, formerly of Norton Rose Fulbright, said: “Becoming a CIC shows that our commitment to practising with purpose is more than a tick-box exercise. The regulator puts our feet to the fire and requires us to show what we’re doing, how we’re doing it and how we can get better next year.”

Picture of the day

Always good for a bit of blog content, Osborne Clarke PR Chris Bond sends us this piece of Christmas graffiti from the tunnels at Waterloo. (This is about three minutes away from The Lawyer HQ yet he didn’t pop in to see us? Fo shame, Chris).

16 December

Festive dog of the day

It’s a bittersweet first dog of the blog, we’re afraid.

“Tilly, my gorgeous 13 and a half year old border terrier (who previously featured in our 2020 lockdown blog), very sadly went to ‘the big kennel in the sky’ on 15 November,” writes Beverley Barton, senior editor in the Practical Law dispute resolution team. “She provided years

of joy and wonderful companionship, and always entered into the festive spirit, enjoying opening a present or two (although not so keen on silly Santa suits!). Here’s to all the faithful, four-legged friends living on in people’s hearts this Christmas. Wishing everyone festive joy, and health and happiness in 2023.”

Carol corner

None of the usual Christmas singalongs for the Linklaters global choir – it’s pulled off some ambitious Bach which the choir will sing live in the firm’s carol service – props to the sopranos for hitting the top As. The choir, directed by Jeremy Haneman, has been going for ten years and kept going through the pandemic, when it embraced video and created a global choir across 12 offices.

We like the high-class production values and strongly suggest other fans seek out the dozen other videos which range from Disney songs to Hildegard of Bingen, and feature many hats and a number of false moustaches. Director of financial crime and founder member Aoife O’Reilly tells us the benefits of the choir are clear: ‘The emotion, the learning, the fun, the joy, the taking part, the escape from the day job, the performance, the achievement, the friendship – it’s all there!’

Who stole Christmas?

Can lawyers actually switch off at Christmas? In our final podcast of 2022 lawyers-turned-journalists Christian Smith and Lucie Cruz discuss what might be in store for lawyers this holiday season, and what it says about the wider challenges of the practice.

15 December

Who’s had the biggest Christmas dinner???

It’s Christmas lunch season and Francesca Barnes at Eversheds Sutherland was charged with organising a meal for 52. So our first challenge of the season: any advance on 52? Let us know if you were part of a larger group.

Carol Corner

You know we’re hearty wassailers here at The Lawyer and though we’re not doing the carol concert again this year (worth a watch if you missed it during Lockdown 3), we are requesting you send us your choir videos.

Here’s Addleshaw Goddard‘s offering for 2022. It is from their performance in Manchester at St Anne’s Church this week. The choir is made up of colleagues from across Leeds, Manchester and London, and the firm performs a concert in all three locations every year.

For more on choirs, listen to our brand new podcast. 

Christmas card scenes in the Inns of Court

A snowball fight at Allen & Overy

Allen & Overy‘s terrace is the perfect setting for many a summer party, but this winter it was also the scene of a legal snowball fight. We would be very interested to know who won.

 Wreath-making at Clydes

Here is a very impressive wreath made by Clyde & Co litigator Fergal Cathie. How many marks would you give out of 10?