Back in April, when Coudert Brothers still had a London office, The Lawyer spoke to John Sheedy, the head of the firm’s Moscow office. The firm had seen the departure of five lawyers to CMS Cameron McKenna’s Russian operation and Tulkinghorn’s scribe was keen to get the inside track.

At the time, Sheedy was glowing with love for Coudert and spoke warmly of the firm’s “cohesive” Moscow operation. But whaddaya know? Barely a month on and Sheedy jumps ship for Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. What an incredible turnaround.

In light of the developments, what are innocent readers to make of the much-vaunted ‘cohesion’ of Coudert’s Moscow office? Tulkinghorn supposes that if ‘cohesive’ means lawyers running screaming en masse to the competition, Coudert must be the most well-gelled firm going.