Daggers drawn

There are few law firms that can resist aiming a kick in fellow solicitors' nether parts, and the infamous 'busty blonde' e-mail that got one City firm into so much bother has given many an employment lawyer a chance to practise this ancient art.

The latest to do so is Reading firm Clarks, which has splashed the phrase 'Lawyer seeks blonde bombshell' across its publicity for a new on-line employment law service.

'Some may find it all the more surprising that the e-mail in question was a communication between two solicitors (including a partner) in a prominent City law firm,' the site notes in a deadpan manner.

'Maybe they would have benefited from Clarks' training services.' At least Clarks did the decent thing in not naming the firm, but then, showing admirable ruthlessness, it still stuck the knife in a bit further with a neat bit of research.

'In an ironic twist, another partner in the same firm was quoted a couple of years earlier as saying in response to suggestions of overreaction to abuse of IT systems [that] "people who run companies aren't used to the Internet or e-mail and are frightened of not being able to control it.

In most cases they are making fools of themselves".'