Obiter's competition to find the solicitor with the best musical claim to fame is really taking off. We've had some flippant entries - such as the renowned claimant solicitor who once stood next to Elvis Costello at the gentlemen's urinals - while one rather well-known and respectable figure in the civil justice field did not want to go public on his time as a roadie and in the company of big punk names.

But remarkably, a link with the delightfully named death metal group Cradle of Filth has emerged for the second week running. Last week, it was a solicitor who had taught their guitarist during a previous career. This time, it is Ruth Nixon, a trainee in the Nottingham office of Berryman, who enjoyed a career as a classical singer before entering the profession. This has seen her perform all over the world, and on the Karl Jenkins' Classic FM favourite 'Armed Man' mass for peace, as well as record albums with her own choir - Laudibus - and on her own. More to the point she recently recorded backing vocals for the new single and album of, yes, Cradle of Filth. 'They're nice boys really,' she tells Obiter.


Then we move to possibly the profession's very own Pete Best. Step forward Robin Wayne, of Shropshire firm Snows, who while still at school was the drummer in a band called the Metropolitan Blues Quartet. This band became the somewhat better known 60s group The Yardbirds, from which graduated the likes of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.


'Needless to say I was not with The Yardbirds when they achieved fame and fortune,' Mr Wayne says. 'Apart from the logistical problems of carting drums about when you don't have a car and still being at school, I had to make a career choice at 18 and opted for the law. The right choice? Who knows?'


Hmm, a career in a regional legal practice or bestriding the global rock scene? Sounds like a toughie to us too, although being the Gazette, we can only applaud Mr Wayne for making the right choice. In any case, he has not been lost to the musical world, and since switching to the bass some years ago has played jazz with the likes of Humphrey Lyttleton and Acker Bilk, and on blues and rock bills with many a household name.


But the current leader is without doubt Dave Fenton, who is now - appropriately enough - head of legal at the Musicians Union. He was the frontman for New Wave band The Vapors, who enjoyed a major hit with 'Turning Japanese' - which has been covered at least twice and turned up in various soundtracks, such as the film 'Charlie's Angels'.


He qualified in 1977 but gave up the law to give music a go as his contract did not allow him to undertake other paid work, such as gigging. Thanks to sharing a manager, The Vapors toured with The Jam and for a couple of years after 'Turning Japanese' took off - reaching number three in March 1980 - life was pretty hectic for the band. They toured Australia, where the song topped the charts, and America four or five times.


Sadly, the band never repeated the chart success (two other records made the top 50) and soon broke up, which Mr Fenton tells us was down to external problems, such as their record label being taken over. After several more years in the music business, he decided to return to law in 1993 and, after acting for the Musicians Union in private practice, became its first in-house lawyer.


'Turning Japanese' was featured in Channel 4's list of the 50 greatest one-hit wonders, which was broadcast last weekend, and by making it onto one of those countdowns, Mr Fenton may have achieved something else no solicitor has. 'I don't mind,' he says of being labelled a one-hit wonder. 'It's better than nothing.'


And Obiter can also nail the urban myth that has always dogged the song - and was repeated on Channel 4: that the title is a euphemism for male masturbation (supposedly referring to a facial expression). Mr Fenton - who doesn't seem too bothered by the fuss - says the rumour started in America, and just to have a bit of fun, the band would alternately confirm and deny it. But he wrote it as a love song and the lyrics - rather than the chorus - seem to back that up. It begins, rather sweetly: 'I got your picture of me and you/You wrote "I love you", I wrote "me too"...' Indeed, could he be playing that game with us too?