Editors weekly: show me the freebies

Despite a broken-down car, train strike and lost tickets I made it up to Nottingham Law Fair last week. It was definitely worth the effort, because I got to meet lots of Lawyer2B.com users and picked up a freebie or two along the way.

My main mission for the afternoon was to find out whether any of you care about corporate social responsibility for a feature thats going in the December issue of Lawyer 2B. I wont spoil the surprise by telling you what I found out, but its suffice to say that my findings will make very interesting reading.

My other task was, of course, to collect as many freebies as possible. However, I have to admit that I wasnt overly impressed by the goods on offer this year, with most firms sticking to the same stuff as before namely pens, post-it notes, corporate umbrellas and mugs. Even the promise of a brand new gift from Slaughter and May, which has to date been shrouded in secrecy, failed to materialise. That said, Im not complaining the famous Slaughters pen is, after all, believed by many to be the ultimate writing machine (indeed, being the proud owner of several I can vouch for that).

The most random freebie was the Allen & Overy hand-warmer. Im not entirely sure what it has to do with securing a training contract but it proved very helpful while I stood waiting at the platform for my train home. The other useful giveaway was the Bird & Bird towel. Well, I thought it was until I used it earlier this week and it left blue and white fluff all over me and my bathroom floor.

Sweets also proved to be a popular freebie this year. Weil Gotshal & Manges had mini bags of Haribo on its stand while Addleshaw Goddard was handing out lollipops, which according to a number of people looked very similar to packets of condoms.

But it wasnt the condoms (sorry, the lollies) that drew the crowds to the Addleshaws stand. It was the famous VoxBox, which made its debut at Nottingham last week. Never one to miss out on the action, I went to check it out and got roped into filming some footage. If you want to see whether your clip made it onto the vodcast then check out Addleshaws website next week.

husnara.begum@thelawyer.com

PS Ill see you at the University of East Anglia law fair tomorrow