Tulkinghorn: Bride before a call

What appeared to be at least half of India’s legal community had decamped to Dubai for the International Bar Association ­conference. The rest were at a wedding.

But not just any old ­wedding. The son of Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai managing partner Cyril Shroff was getting hitched, an event that led to the celebration of the nuptials with no fewer than six wedding parties.

One of these, held in Jaipur, saw the recreation of a traditional Rajasthani market, with music and theatre, and something along the lines of 2,000 guests. Tulkinghorn’s scribe - conducting an interview over the ­telephone rather than in person, sadly - found herself chatting about outbound investment and liberalisation of the local legal market to the cheerful background strains of the wedding band.

Spies spotted UK lawyers that included Slaughters’ Chris Saul and Herbert Smith’s Chris Parsons among the invitees, although it could not be confirmed whether or not they rode on an elephant.

Smokin’ without fire

There was drama over at Simmons & Simmons last week as a fire alarm had lawyers scuttling for the exit. Not all of the ­evacuees, though, were fully dressed, news that had Tulkinghorn choking into his morning G&T.

That is until the truth dawned. It transpires that the partially dressed crew were those in Simmons’ gym. As the bell turned out to be a false alarm there was no need for ­anyone to have left the building, and in fact the majority of lawyers and staff stayed put.

The gym bunnies, ­however, were not the sort to let a chance to show off their bods to the wider world pass by. And how lucky those passing by Ropemaker Street at the time must have felt.

Peace talk

Clyde & Co senior partner Michael Payton has had a lot on his plate recently, which could explain why his voicemail message gets straight to the point: “Speak now or forever hold your peace.”

Chide before a SaulBack with Chris Saul, the recent £5.2bn sale of ­security and cleaning ­company ISS to G4S gave the Slaughters chap what must surely have been a rare opportunity to get his hands dirty on a deal.

So rare must it be these days for the Slaughters senior partner to get involved at the sharp end of the law that one of his colleagues felt the need to carefully spell out
Saul’s name to one of ­Tulkinghorn’s scribblers while rattling off a cast list on the acquisition.

That’ll be S-A-U-L.

Now, how does one spell ’Chris’?

Grape Briton

“Double, double toil and trouble/Fire burn and champers bubble.”

Apparently that’s what you hear these days if you walk through the part of the office occupied by the telecoms team at CMS Cameron McKenna. Or least it is since telecoms head Chris Watson - father of Emma Watson, of Hermione of Harry Potter fame - was appointed UK chief of the professional body for the grape growers of Burgundy town Chablis, where a dry Chardonnay is made.

As well as having a famous daughter, Watson owns a vineyard in Chichée, also in Burgundy. “He’s a formidable person,” one wine expert told the French press. “Whatever you say to him, he always ends up talking about Chablis.”

Tulkinghorn likes talking about Chablis too, or at least sipping it by the bottle. He wouldn’t wear that robe though - yellow’s just not his colour.