Editor's weekly: Canap知tiquette

Writing my weekly email on just two hours sleep was never going to be a good idea. But that was the last thing on my mind as I hit the dance floor at The Lawyer HR Awards.

The night was a phenomenal success. Im sure the graduate recruitment teams who joined the party at the Hilton in Londons swanky Park Lane mustve found it a welcome break from wading through the mountains of vacation scheme applications that have just landed on their desks. That must especially be the case for Nottingham-based Browne Jacobson, which scooped the gong for best graduate trainee campaign.

Congratulations also goes to Nabarro for taking home the prize for the most innovative recruitment campaign for its Charlie and the Chocolate Factory inspired law fair giveaways and Addleshaw Goddard, which won the the award for best recruitment website.

There are some obvious lessons to be learnt from a work night out. Know your limit on alcohol and dont be the last to leave. Im sure you can think of many more but its probably safer to leave it at that.

But seriously, if youre thinking about training as a lawyer then expect to spend many an alcohol fuelled evening at cocktail parties with colleagues and/or clients. So whether youre the life and soul of the party, or a wallflower learning the art of networking with a cocktail sausage in tow is a must. Indeed, one US firm thinks its so important to teach trainees the art of schmoozing it sends them on a canap知tiquette course!

My advice, however, is very simple. Unless youre on the brink of starvation avoid canap豠at all cost. No lawyer I have spoken to has figured out whether to eat the mini treats in one bite or how to dispose of the empty cocktail stick discreetly.

Finally, my newsletter wouldnt be complete without mentioning Valentines Day, which just happens to be in the same week as the hearing of the Centurys biggest divorce case kicked off. Macca v Mucca is a case not to be missed by any wannabe media or family lawyer. So for all the lowdown check out our This week were talking about feature.

Happy valentines day!

husnara.begum@lawyer2b.com