It's a bugs' life

The City office of US firm McDermott Will & Emery is recovering from a shock infestation of tropical flies, Obiter can reveal.

John Reynolds, one of the firms' litigation partners, can now laugh about what he describes as 'the unspeakable bugs', which struck earlier this year.

To spruce up his new office, Mr Reynolds went hunting for the perfect plant.

Finally, he thought he had found a bargain - a tropical vision with luscious glossy foliage.

But the plant was like a time bomb.

It was riddled with bugs, which in time, and encouraged by the warmth of McDermotts' air conditioned offices, gave birth to a brood of flies.

But Mr Reynolds admitted he was oblivious: 'I was a bit like Pig Pen from Snoopy, surrounded by clouds, flies and dust.' Mr Reynolds struck a deal with the plant company for a replacement and was relieved to receive what was identified as a new Madagascan dragon tree by the firm's answer to Alan Titchmarsh, employment partner David Dalgarno.

Mr Reynolds explains: 'I make things die quite easily.

I do not have the gift of giving life to all things horticultural.'