Pity Nigel Jones QC of Hardwicke, who has learnt the hard way how the British like to keep talent in its place. His mini-biog at the second Global Managing Partners Summit conference in London last week included a Legal 500 quote describing the barrister as ‘refreshingly in tune with business life’. Jones told the audience that he had just taken silk when the legal directory came out, and as soon as the quote was published, a wag sent an email round chambers saying: ‘So, knows no law then’.

On to this year’s directory entry, which noted that Jones’s ‘bedside manner wins clients over instantly’. No sooner does the book come out than another e-mail is sent round, saying: ‘So, still knows no law’. Stay strong, Nigel. As Obiter knows, there will always be those who think we’re only up there to be shot down.