It is, unsurprisingly, at the evening events that meetings such as the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) plenary session get really interesting. The first dinner in Edinburgh was held at Our Dynamic Earth - Scotland's somewhat more successful equivalent of the Millennium Dome - followed by dancing to the soft-rock vibes laid down by The Reclaimers, the house band of the Faculty of Advocates (the Scottish bar). The name is a double pun on famed Scottish duo The Proclaimers and on the Scottish legal term 'reclaimer'. The group is made up of a High Court judge (not many other bands count a lord among their number, we'd wager), sheriffs and barristers. The besuited band got many of Europe's legal elite shaking a leg and, later in the evening, acquired a new lead singer when CCBE president and faculty member Colin Tyre, tie thrown asunder, took to the microphone. Full respect to the QC, who certainly didn't disgrace himself or Europe's lawyers, although sadly he did not have a crack at 'I shot the sheriff'.


The second night saw dinner at the splendid Parliament Hall, home to the Scottish parliament until the Act of Union 300 years ago. The continental Europeans delighted at a kilted Mr Tyre's traditional welcoming of the haggis ahead of the main course (chicken stuffed with haggis), complete with piper, Burns recital and drams of whisky thrown back. Scottish dancing followed dinner, where, if truth be told, enthusiasm was more on display than skill, but attention was surreptitiously focused on one lawyer who had taken up the invitation to wear a kilt. He had evidently been sold the last one in the shop, which looked more like a tartan miniskirt than anyone was comfortable with and posed a considerable risk to collective sensibilities once he started on the Gay Gordons.