Tough cookie: there is no sense in denying that we at Obiter Towers are open to a little bit of, shall we say, persuasion - and many a law firm has come through for us over the years, throwing in little gifts to sweeten what can occasionally be slightly dull titbits of news. We're not talking international racketeering here - bars of chocolate, all sorts of corporate tat (mouse mats remain a favourite) and even ice-cube trays have crossed our desks.


Last week, City firm Lovells marked the announcement of its ground-breaking Sino-Global Legal Alliance (a genuinely interesting piece of news, we should hasten to add) by sending journalists fortune cookies to accompany its press statement. Displaying a disregard to forward planning that we are sure the alliance will not emulate, it clearly did not occur to anyone that such treats may be crushed to crumbs when delivered in an envelope (nor the accidental subliminal message that sends). Nor was much care taken to vet the messages inside the cookies. 'If life were measured by accomplishments,' opined one we received, 'most of us would die in infancy.' Let us hope the alliance is a tad more ambitious.