Obiter recently bemoaned the failure of any law firms to get beyond the quarter-final stage of the City Sevens, and called on senior management to amend their trainee recruitment policies by signing up the retiring Martin Johnson - or the more likely option of a few more blues straight out of Oxbridge. Of course what we'd forgotten was that sevens is a Mickey Mouse game and all that matters is the full 15-a-side version.

Obiter is delighted therefore to report that Linklaters (pictured right in black, white and, er, a rather fetching and un-rugby pink) recently beat the bankers at JP Morgan 22-21 last month in the final of the City League, and in doing so notched up a record third victory in the event. The tournament - which runs from September to May and features the likes of Goldman Sachs, Citibank, and CSFB as well as law firms such as Norton Rose, Allen & Overy and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer - is clearly a true test of strength in depth in the noble art of egg-chucking.


But that is not the only piece of sporting glory that we have for readers this week - the London Lawyers Football Club (above) narrowly failed to emulate Liverpool, going down to a side from Vienna in the final of the biennial European Lawyers Football Cup. The team, made up of lawyers from a host of City and US firms including Slaughter and May and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy, beat Salzburg (4-0) and Scotland/Dundee (5-0) in the early stages before notching up a 1-0 victory over the top-seeded Rome side. After the plucky City boys took the lead in the final, the Vienna side used home advantage well and stormed back to win 2-1. Obiter hopes the London team will be able to go one stage further at next year's Lawyers World Cup in Antalya, Turkey. As you can see from the hurt on their faces in this post-final picture, you can't say losing in Vienna meant nothing to them and come the world cup, they won't be lacking in determination.