Sleeping it off

There are some reassuring constants for regular attendees of International Bar Association conferences: alarming casual wear, cut-throat competition to get people to particular receptions, business cards flying around like confetti, and the sight of Obiter favourite and top City solicitor Ronnie Fox dozing quietly in the corner of various sessions.

According to those who have seen him in action rather than playing the genial patrician, Mr Fox is anything but dozy when it comes to his work, but put him in a warm room after a long flight, and soon those lids begin to drop.

A gadget freak, he once proudly showed Obiter a device he had to combat this problem - an ear piece used by long-distance lorry drivers which buzzes when the head falls below the horizontal - but this was sadly not in evidence in Durban last week.

It even reached the stage where he looked to be resting his eyes while sitting at the front of the room on a panel (not during his own presentation, we should add, and undoubtedly concentrating on the words of his fellow panellists).

In his speech, Mr Fox said new recruits to his firm, Fox Williams, had to pass the lift test: would you mind being stuck in a lift with this person? Mr Fox would be fine lift company and his calm reflective style would also be handy in preserving the oxygen, we reckon.