Champagne shenanigans

Had the Daily Mail sent a reporter to the Legal Aid Practitioners Group's (LAPG) inaugural legal aid lawyer of the year award ceremony last week, he or she would have been foaming at the mouth within minutes.

Held at the swish Commonwealth Club just off Trafalgar Square, the event was notable for being a little on the lavish side, with an army of serving staff at virtually every elbow, ensuring that no canape went uneaten and no glass of champagne unfilled.

Yes, that's right: champagne.

What about the privations of legal aid that practitioners assure us they suffer every day? Was the whole bash being paid for by a few green forms made out in the name of Mickey Mouse? Fortunately, we are able to reassure the Lord Chancellor, Legal Services Commission and anti-lawyer newspapers that this was most definitely not the case (which will be a particular relief to Legal Services Commission officials who were quaffing champagne with the best of them).

The evening was generously provided by the event's sponsors, Jordans, and LAPG director Richard Miller, for one, was grateful.

'We have to thank Jordans for giving us the opportunity, for one evening, to see how the other half live,' he declared to Obiter.