They think it's all over... let's hope so

Sunday morning is not a time of the week that many of Tulkinghorn's hard working protégés profess to seeing very often. After all, having worked hard all week, even journalists deserve the odd lie-in. Nevertheless, from 10am on 24 July, along with the sporting greats from the legal profession, they gathered together at Wembley five-a-side centre for the fourth annual TheLawyer.com LegalFives competition. Second only to The Lawyer Awards, this is surely the key event in the industry calendar.
The Women's Cup competition was of a higher quality than ever before, with teams from Clifford Chance, Shoosmiths, Taylor Joynson Garrett and Ashurst Morris Crisp battling out the semi-final stages. Clifford Chance and Shoosmiths progressed through to the Cup final and one goal proved enough for the ladies of Clifford Chance, who, having come close so many times before, went away champions.
Meanwhile, the Women's Plate final threatened to be a whitewash for the magic circle with in-form Slaughter and May taking on Lovells. However, it was the golden circle that triumphed, running away 2-1 winners.
The Men's Plate final - the cup for those who would have otherwise have been going home at lunchtime - was played out between Jeffrey Green Russell and Shoosmiths PD. Now, Tulkinghorn is obviously not bitter, but he would like it noted that The Lawyer had beaten both those teams on its way to a crushing defeat in the last 16 of the Cup. Anyway, Jeffrey Green Russell claimed the prize with a convincing 4-2 victory.
After such a cracking competition, it has to be said that, despite the best efforts of the crowd and a rather confused commentator from event organiser Topcorner, the final was a bit of a damp squib. Still, after Slaughters and hot favourites Squire & Co had played out a tactical 0-0 stalemate, the fans were at least rewarded with a nailbiting penalty shoot out. The cool heads of Slaughters clinched it and walked away with the trophy - at least, they would have done had they not left it behind. Sharpest lawyers on the block, those boys at Slaughters.