Going once… going twice… going home

Tulkinghorn cannot help noticing that Berwin Leighton Paisner managing partner Neville Eisenberg is in need of some lessons in etiquette, or at the very least a bit of revision on how to work his electronic diary.

Cancelling drinks with a legal journalist once is perfectly forgivable, even though it was at the last minute. Twice even, is not a punishable offence. Clients come first after all; and 'Big Nev' did make the effort to put a new date in his diary all by himself, without leaving his secretary to do the necessary. But third time lucky it was not to be.

When the day came around, the journalist thought it would be wise to check that the meeting was still on. Lo and behold! Nev's lovely secretary could not find a sniff of the arrangement in his diary. Not a sausage. The man himself was busy in a meeting scheduled to run later than the time he had agreed to meet said journo.

To cancel twice might be regarded as unfortunate; to forget about the meeting altogether the third time around looks like carelessness.

Needless to say, a new date is now in the diary, arranged with Nev's secretary, of course. But one cannot help wondering how this leaves his entry for Partner of the Year in this year's The Lawyer Awards.