There was quite a buzz at the Law Society’s packed Excellence Awards at Old Billingsgate in London last week. Nigel Priestley, who received the prestigious gong of private practice Solicitor of the Year, used the podium to praise the success of Huddersfield Law Society’s twinning project with Uganda, which he said has made a real difference to the legal profession in that developing nation. As Priestley pointed out, Huddersfield may be but one Yorkshire town, but it likes to think big, which is why it decided to twin with an entire nation. And Priestley urged others to do the same. ‘Anyone present from local law societies,’ he said, ‘forget twinning with Frankfurt or Lyon. Go for a whole country, like Nigeria’. And why not, indeed. Meanwhile City lawyer Stuart Popham was called up on stage to accept a lifetime achievement award from Society president Linda Lee. In a twist on the usual award-shaped ornament, Lee had bought the Clifford Chance chief, who is a keen yachtsman, an antique silver bailer (a small scoop for bailing out water, which, she said, she hoped he would never have to use). She then proceeded to go ‘overboard’ with some sailing puns in admiration of Popham’s achievements. The City star, a picture of modesty, was overwhelmed to receive such an honour. Particularly as, we later learned, he had been given a similar lifetime achievement accolade – minus the sailing antique – at the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards the previous night.