Tulkinghorn is a big fan of panto, so imagine his surprise when he chanced upon an upcoming appearance from Simmons & Simmons in Snow White.
Turns out Simmons & Simmons has had ‘em rolling in the aisles for years.
Keith and Ben Simmons, that is. The father-and-son comedy duo shares the same name as the City law firm (visit www.simmons and simmons.org.uk).
All this confusion means that children queuing up to see Simmons & Simmons – the duo are very popular on the Derby scene – may be disappointed to find managing partner Mark Dawkins instead, no doubt without big trousers, bright-red cheeks or even a bucket filled with glitter.
Expect shouts of: “He’s behind you!” to ring out of the law firm’s offices from now on. Encore!
Desert storm
What’s this? Isn’t he supposed to be running?
Here is Morrison & Foerster London corporate associate Simon Williams taking a short break from a seven-day race across the Sahara desert.
He’d better not get carried away with that engrossing read or he’ll lose the race. With up to 80km to run every day in the Marathon des Sables, he needed all the rest he could get before he set off.
But don’t worry, Williams made the entire 150-mile journey on foot and was back in London in time for last week’s edition of The Lawyer.
Bet that was worth the rush.
Knight of a thousand eyes
After Sir Nigel Knowles was knighted, Tulkinghorn read with interest that he was not letting the honour go to his head.
“I’m not getting seduced by this,” the Yorkshire native told one of Tulkinghorn’s spies in January.
Alas, it seems no one told his minions at DLA Piper, who have been plastering his successes all over the firm’s canteen.
Far from underplaying Knowles’s success, cuttings from various national newspaper interviews with Sir Nige were pinned up on a noticeboard for all to see.
Associates will have noticed that the gushing articles made little mention of the turmoil that was surrounding the firm over its redundancy consultation – little wonder, then, that the firm has keen to display them on its ‘press coverage’ wall.
But fame is a fickle master. When one of Tulkinghorn’s scribes visited the DLA Piper office last week there was no sign of Knowles on the noticeboard.
He had been replaced by a double-page interview with Asia managing partner Alastair Da Costa.
Tulkinghorn is sure Knowles will be back, though – he’s never out of the limelight for long.
In the meantime he can take comfort in the gigantic gold throne that has been installed in his office following the knighthood.
Behaving badly?
Linklaters managing partner Simon Davies has clearly misbehaved. In the picture on the front page of last week’s copy of The Lawyer, the magic circle leader was seen perched sheepishly on what appears to be a naughty chair.
Tulkinghorn is curious to learn exactly what Davies did to be given a ticking off Super Nanny would be proud of. Perhaps senior partner David Cheyne decided to discipline him for not eating his greens. Naughty Simon!
