Tulkinghorn: Last week in a town far, far away…

“In an office in Ellesmere Port a solicitor and a computer expert have devised a unique way of providing legal advice on the internet,” the press release from web-based service expert-answers. co.uk scrolled (well, trilled) last week. Okay, maybe it’s not that brave. Or revolutionary.

Or even Starry Warry. But thanks anyway to expert-answers for giving Tulkinghorn and co a giggle.

MoFo gets Beebed

Tulkinghorn is well aware that there are plenty of law firms out there - most likely more than the crumbling edifice of global capitalism can handle - but how many of them can provide a ­setting to a successful BBC drama?

Last week that big lunky building nestling near to Moorgate that goes by the name of CityPoint was used as the backdrop for a location shoot for Luther, the programme starring the erstwhile bad guy from the US cop show The Wire Idris Elba.

Appropriately, the setting is stuffed full of lawyers and serves as the London base of Morrison & Foerster, which readers may be aware also goes by the funky name ’MoFo’.

A tag that perfectly echoes the defiant final words of Elba’s character in The Wire Stringer Bell: “Get on with it MoFo.”

Tulkinghorn wonders if Bell was indeed referring to the well-known US firm?

Rams fan in a jam

The perils of watching Derby County. Reed Smith’s David Boucher had the misfortune to be at the Broadfield Stadium last Monday (10 January) for the Rams’ FA Cup head-to head against the might of non-league Crawley Town.

Derby lost 2-1, having missed a penalty and even managing to boot a corner kick straight out in the dying minutes. But that wasn’t the worst of it.

“It had been chucking it down and I’d parked on a grasss verge,” recalls Boucher from the safety of his Reed Smith office. “When I got back to the car after the game I realised it was stuck in the mud. I got sprayed from head to toe pushing it out. That really put a lid on the night.”

Well, this last might not be entirely accurate. With a little prodding Boucher revealed that his ­consumate skills as a ­negotiator hadn’t failed him, even in the depths of his muddy despair.

“Okay, there were two friends with me and it’s true I suggested the driver gets in while they push,” added Boucher.

That’s the ticket.

What’s love got to do with it?

Getting hitched? Moving in together? Then you’ll be needing London family boutique Bross Bennett’s compatability quiz.

In a piece of PR hunting that is in no way designed to kill every last drop of romance, the firm’s handy cut-out-and-keep guide to living happily ever after included such gems as, “Do you know the extent of each other’s assets? (Answer: if I don’t by now I never will); “Do you like doing the same things in your spare time? (Answer: yes, spending six hours in Ikea on Saturday ­afternoons fills us both with joy); and “What sort of relationship do you have with your extended family? (Answer: ideal - they come over and I go to the pub).

“No employer would offer someone a job ­without considering their suitability for that position and neither should a ­couple embark on a lifelong commitment without doing their research,” says Bross Bennett partner Ruth Bross.

Tulkinghorn (and Mrs Tulkinghorn, of course) couldn’t agree more.