Freshfields corporate partners’ Paris conference turns into autograph frenzy

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer corporate partners were treated to an unusual party game at their Paris conference.

Joint corporate heads Gavin Darlington and Andreas Fabritius planned an ice-breaking game, which the pair sprung on 155 unsuspecting partners. Each partner had to bring a postcard-sized mini CV with their name, client list and outside interests on it. They were then given a ribbon to put the CVs around their necks.

The ribbon lengths were designed to preserve the dignity of Freshfields’ female partners, being long enough to allow their male comrades to sign their backs without indecorous touching.

The game’s object was to score as many signatures from other partners as possible as a way of facilitating cross-border bonding. Extra cards were available for the truly keen, and at the end of the day the team with the most signatures was awarded a prize.

One particular partner did everything possible to draw attention to himself. His outside interests, when translated into English, read: “My organ.” Sadly, censors removed the double entendre. Some observers commented that this was a shame, because every partner there would have remembered the gentleman in question, which was surely the point of the exercise.