Landing a prize fish can be as satisfying as winning a big client, discovers Jeremy Fleming

To many lawyers, a fishing expedition is a derogatory term used to describe unscrupulous litigators, but to those who share the country's most popular pastime it is something to look forward to.

Peter Stevens a corporate and technology partner with London firm Manches, says that he's only started fly-fishing in the past five years, having been introduced to coarse fishing as a child.

Mr Stevens fishes mainly at Albury lake near Godalming in leafy Surrey and is a member of a group that fishes at Sion Park in west London.

He says that there is an enormous amount of satisfaction to be had from catching a trout on a fly made by yourself, and that the taste of the trout is incomparable with anything available in the shops.

Tim Hardy, the head of commercial litigation at City firm CMS Cameron McKenna, took a seat on the committee of the Lawyers' Fishing Club 20 years ago.

At that time, he says the club was in danger of closure because of dwindling interest but now he says that membership is up to 80.

He also started fishing young - with worms - but is now a dedicated fly-fisher who travels to Scotland once a year to fish in hill locks in the wild Scottish countryside.

Nearer London, he is a member of a consortium that manages a wild lake called Mimram, near Welwyn Garden City.

He says: 'Members of the 30-strong consortium take it in turns to tend to the surrounding countryside and the banks of the lake - it is very wild and unmanicured.'

Charles Rumke, a partner with Golders Green-based Rumke Joseph & Rabin, is the current chairman of the Lawyers Fishing Club.

He says: 'The club organises a beginners' day at least once a year.

The most recent was last week when we had 22 beginners - and about 30 fishers - who came from across the whole range of the legal profession: secretaries, solicitors, barristers and judges.'

The day took place at Rib Valley Fisheries in the Thames Valley.

Beginners were given guidance on how to cast and fly-fish for trout.

He says that although the majority of the fishing done by the club is in fresh water for salmon and trout, the club also organises the occasional sea-fishing trip.

Once a year there is a 'moving-water day' when the club has rights to fish on the river Test - it enjoys fishing rights on the estate of Lord Mountbatten in Hampshire - and there are a couple of open days each year held at Barnes lake in Oxfordshire.

There is also an annual contest that is usually held in June between the club and another group formed by a former chairman of Lloyds of London.

The competition takes the form of ten boats going out for a day on a lake in the midlands and weighing their respective catches in the evening.

For the last couple of years, the lawyers have won, although Mr Rumke sheepishly admits that the club had suffered defeat for the preceding eight years.

Nick Marshall, a senior associate in the real estate department of City firm Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw, was another early starter.

He took up fishing at the age of eight and - like most of the other lawyers - started on coarse fishing before graduating to fly-fishing.

He is one of the organisers of the club's beginners' day, and says that although fishing is often considered an exclusively male sport there were several women at the meeting and 'they were out-fishing the men'.

All the lawyers seem to concur on the benefits of fishing as a pastime.

Mr Stevens says: 'The advantages of the hobby are that it is relaxing and gets you out into the countryside in attractive locations.'

Mr Rumke says: 'It gets you out into nature, and you can see what goes on there.'

Mr Hardy cites the 'peace and relaxation' as one of the main advantages of the sport, and - away from the busy work of a City litigator - it provides 'something different, tapping into nature and connecting with one's inner self, it's a wonderful release'.

Mr Marshall adds: 'You can take it at your own pace, walking up and down spotting the fish.

There is a competitive element to it for those who want that - but it's not like motor racing - you can take it as slowly or quickly as you like.'

- The Lawyers Fishing Club has a 25 annual membership fee.

To join, telephone Nick Marshall on 020 7782 8924.

Tall Tales

Unfortunately, lawyers seem to be no exception to the rule that fishermen sometimes have trouble telling fact from fishing fiction.

Tim Hardy says he once caught a 2lb sea-trout - an increasingly elusive prey - in Waterford, Ireland.

'I caught it for a few seconds and then it got away.'

Charles Rumke says: 'I once caught a 10lb trout on an open day, but I threw it back, I've also caught a 40lb salmon in Alaska.'

Nick Marshall claims to have bagged a 9lb rainbow trout on Barnes lake.