One of the good things about having a solicitor as the new Lord Mayor of London became apparent on his first day in office, as Robert Finch's fellow solicitors found themselves right at the front of the 3.2 mile-long Lord Mayor's Show, rather than having to wait ages at the back of the queue of 70-plus floats and groups.

Both the City of London Solicitors Company and his firm, Linklaters, received star billing, the company recruiting a bevy of guys and gals from a variety of City firms to perform aboard a 'Chicago' style float, in keeping with the parade's theme, 'The City in tune'.

Linklaters got hold of a giant pink inflatable saxophone (one does have to wonder who thought to manufacture such a thing) to celebrate the way it is, apparently, 'jazzing up the law'.

The show has been going, amazingly, almost 800 years, since King John granted a charter in 1215 which allowed the City's citizens to elect their own mayor.

The charter stipulated that the new mayor must be presented to the Sovereign for approval and to swear fealty to the Crown, so each year he had to travel from the City to Westminster to pledge allegiance.

Of course, things were vastly different for solicitors back in 1215: male barristers were the main source of judicial appointments, non-partners were treated like serfs and legal aid rates only went up in pennies.