More on Franklin Sinclair: 2005 may be in its infancy, but the benchmark for law firm parties was well and truly set last week as criminal law specialist firm Tuckers (senior partner F Sinclair) hosted a monster 25th birthday party in the Earth Gallery at London's Natural History Museum. Among the statues of cavemen, Medusa, and astronauts were pot-bellied bat-like creatures on stilts, jugglers and all manner of fair-ground-style entertainers. Obiter is a bit jaded when it comes to law firm bashes, but the Manchester, Birmingham and London-based firm put on an impressive show. Not only that, the practice is clearly oozing with confidence as it invited solicitors from many competing law firms, as just about all the London criminal law fraternity was there to hoover up the booze and the nosh. So there were plenty of jokes about crime clearly paying. However, if you've not just survived 25 years of declining legal aid budgets, pay freezes, contracting, competitive tendering and so on, but actually achieved considerable success, you might as well celebrate in style. As founding partner Barry Tucker shouted to the throng: 'See you in another 25 years.'