Obiter

Back to school

Dressing down continues to be a hot issue in the legal profession, with some firms reversing their policies in favour of a return to pinstripes.

But others are instead becoming more prescriptive as to what lawyers can wear, such as Birmingham firm Gateley Wareing, which, it would seem, requires staff to dress as schoolchildren of either sex.

Indeed, maybe it's a case of 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' for male solicitors - who within a decade could be in a minority in the solicitors' profession - but this is by no means the first photographic evidence we have had to indicate that whenever there is a chance to throw on a wig, skirt and stuffed bra, they go for it with considerable enthusiasm.

On this specific occasion, the staff concerned were actually all at a firm party, where they presented 5,120, raised through various activities, to local charity Edward's Trust, which provides free accommodation for the families of seriously ill children at Birmingham Children's Hospital, as well as a bereavement centre.

Senior partner Michael Ward is the one in the red hat, but sadly, not a red dress to go with it.

He does, we suppose, have a reputation to maintain.

Red card for look-alike: We have featured pictures of lawyers with celebrity look-alikes with pleasing regularity on this page, but rarely have we come across one who, in our view, bears less resemblance to the celebrity in question than this.

Cheshire firm Alexander Harris recently held a charity football tournament in aid of the charities BASIC (the Brain and Spinal Injuries Charity) and Childhood Epilepsy.

The evening kicked off with a special appearance from the chap in the suit, who we are assured is the spitting image of England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.

To us he just looks like a bloke with a blazer, glasses and a receding hairline, but he has apparently featured on the TV and elsewhere as Sven, so who are we to judge from one blurred photo? Here he poses with Alexander Harris's own team, which failed to win, unlike Manchester law firm George Davies, which scooped the second-rate 'best of the rest' competition.

As the firm which has long advised the Professional Footballers Association, you'd've thought they could have brought in a few ringers and taken the main trophy home.

Flower power

Local law societies are a vital cog in the profession's wheel, and it was good to see Cornwall Law Society last week taking a holistic approach to training.

On Tuesday, solicitors across the county received a flyer for the society's latest continuing professional development course: Flower arranging for solicitors.

Run by the society's multi-talented administrator, Mavis Butterfield - who was apparently Playflower Magazine's Miss April 1975 - the flyer warns that many a firm revamping its offices is seeing its efforts spoiled by a 'failure to include floral art decoration in the modernisation scheme'.

The course includes tips such as: 'Teleconferencing - arranging for maximum background impact', and 'Peace lilies - their use in family mediation'.

The course, which has three CPD points and costs 70 per member, includes secateurs and finger buffet, 'hopefully not your own'.

That the flyer was received on 1 April for a course on 31 April did not, we are sure, stop several solicitors thinking about signing up.

Legal hypnosis

With the age of multi-disciplinary partnerships almost upon us, law firms are looking to diversify and Bolton-based Keoghs has provided an insight into this trend by turning itself into some sort of new-age centre.

The firm has launched a range of 'well being' services for staff, including on-site hypnotherapy, reflexology, Indian head massage as well as advice on nutrition and aromatherapy.

Hypnotherapy sessions have already started to stop smoking, deal with insomnia, anxiety, lack of confidence and phobias, and weight control.

Keoghs was recently named in the list of best companies to work for, and this shows why, but rumours that the hypnotherapy also involves someone holding a swinging watch in front of fee-earners' faces and intoning 'Listen very carefully, when you wake up you will charge at least 12 hours a day and never complain about a lack of work-life balance' have been hotly denied.