The guiding light of the Gazette

From the Gazette's mouth to the Lord Chancellor's ears.

That seems to be the way Lord Irvine's department is working at least, and who are we to criticise? Readers will have followed the saga of the commercial law firms listed as consultees in next year's silk round, which was unfortunately sprinkled with errors and omissions.

In our original story, we specifically listed four major City litigation practices - Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Norton Rose, Denton Wilde Sapte, Barlow Lyde & Gilbert - as missing.

Lo and behold, the updated list that has now gone up on the Web includes just four new names, which happily correspond to those taken off the top of the Gazette correspondent's head.

There are still mistakes to be found in the list - however much Lord Irvine may want to discourage divorce, he just has to accept that the partners from Hugh James Ford Simey have gone their separate ways and demerged - but buoyed by our success at influencing government policy, we're now planning something about what level legal pay rates should really be.

Wish us luck.