The perks of friends in high placesIt's not what you know but who, to judge by this photograph.

The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, descended from the splendid isolation of his ivory tower to open the new offices of 16-partner London firm Pattinson & Brewer.

His department confirmed to Obiter that Lord Irvine does do this kind of thing from time to time, but 'not terribly frequently', to be honest.

So why Pattinson & Brewer? Could it be that David Cockburn (above, right, with managing partner John Davies), a former chairman of the Employment Lawyers Association among many other appointments - employment law being a field in which Lord Irvine practised heavily - and fellow partner Frances McCarthy, president of the influential Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, had a word in his shell-like?