Lawyers Against LonelinessThe Lawyer Shopping Channel

Helen Libson of Allen & Overy, who kicked this strand off, says: “Hot Dinners is invaluable for a constant update of ‘best of’ lists of food hampers, gifts, advent calendars”

Previously: Arthouse Unlimited | Bookshop.org | The Spirit Specialist | Lockdown Libraries | West End Lane Books | The Bark Side (10% discount with the code LAWYER) | smallprint-online.com | Augustus Hare | The Lakes Distillery | Cogito Books | Lutyens and Rubinstein | The Book House | Letter Box Hamper | Designs by Kate Whyley | Pet Hates Toys | Cocolulu | Biscuiteers | Vinegar Hill | Gander Market | Rennet & Rind | Cocoa May

Charity initiative of the Day

Eversheds Sutherland is inviting everyone in each of its 68 offices globally – and you as well – to join its Step up to the Plate 10K challenge, a very special charity appeal to raise money for local food banks and similar charities.

Between 3 and 11 December, the firm is encouraging its people to walk 10km and donate £10/€10 to their designated local food bank in time for the forthcoming holiday period. People are also welcome to wheel, scoot, skip or cycle, or even link up with their clients and teams to complete the challenge virtually – they can take part in any way they choose, being mindful of any local Covid-19 restrictions.

Food banks are a much needed resource in providing items of food to those in our communities who may not be able to afford it, particularly during this year’s pandemic. A study by the UK’s Trussell Trust revealed that food bank users have an average of £7.10 a day to live on, and that December is usually their busiest period. With this in mind, supporting the firm’s communities further through its Step up to the Plate challenge is an opportunity for all its people to work together to support those who would otherwise go hungry.

Eversheds Sutherland would also like to invite clients, contacts and friends from across the legal sector to join in if they’d like to, by contacting CR Partner Michael Thompson. It’s easy to take part: all you need to do is:

  1. Walk 10k between 3-11 December, having regard to any Covid-19 restrictions which apply. Cycling, scootering or wheeling are also welcome and indoor walking counts! You do not need to complete the 10k in one trip. However you complete the challenge, please take a photo to share with us
  2. Donate £10/€10 or an amount you feel comfortable with, to a local food bank or charity
  3. Share your efforts on social media and invite family and friends to join in – everyone’s welcome to take part! Just remember to @tag Eversheds Sutherland

Fun fact! If everyone in Eversheds Sutherland takes part, it will have collectively raised a significant amount of money, and travelled over 40,000km – the same distance it takes to walk around the world. If our friends in legal services want to join in then we could probably walk to the moon!

Dogs of the Day

Meet Woody, rescued him from ‘death row’ pound in Romania by McDermott Will & Emery‘s Marc Donfrancesco just before lockdown. “He is half Mirotic sheepdog but apparently half terrier and raptor. So, he’s smart enough to know when you’re busy with a delivery person, particularly shopping, and any jar or bowl on the kitchen worktop is fair game! Has a shoe fetish and likes collecting items off the printer – just not so good at delivering them.”

Joanna Deary, an in-house lawyer at clearing house LCH, sends a picture of Tilda Swinton (so named because she has a certain air of glamour, like the actress).

Likes

  • Determinedly (if unsuccessfully) tying to access the (out of bounds) loft space
  • Prowling haughtily around our garden balanced daintily on the fences
  • Sheba

Dislikes

  • Our toddler son pulling her tail
  • Being brushed
  • Rain

Image of the Day

“Hi! I am Carlos the Cactus,” begins a rather improbable email from Fladgate. “I am the mascot of Fladgate’s construction department. I recently completed a 12-mile run from Chiswick to London Bridge in the TourdeFladgate fundraising event in aid of Alzheimer’s Society and Sebastian’s Action Trust.”

“A big shout out to Olivia Bateman, Christabel Sutton, Michaela Patterson, Hattie Jordan, Myckala Jones, Oliver Tobin, Lotte McGuire, Maddy McAra, Ian Smith and Kim Fowler. P.S. I have suffered slight injury due to a mishap of almost being dropped at London Bridge by one of my team (who shall remain anonymous).”

The Lawyer Listens

Red Right Hand – Nick Cave

Peaky Blinders fans discovered Nick Cave’s song Red Right Hand in 2013 as the show’s theme song but the actual song comes from one of Nick Cave’s most acclaimed albums, Let Love In (1994). The title comes from John Milton‘s epic poem Paradise Lost, in which it refers to the vengeful hand of God.

Should intermitted vengeance arm again
His red right hand to plague us?
What if all her stores were opened, and this firmament
Of Hell should spout her cataracts of fire

Tommy Shelby might be no God but he certainly has a sense of vengeance against his enemies, the number of which multiply after each episode and the dark and eerie atmosphere of the song fits perfectly the criminal gang’s bloody adventures. Nick Cave told Q Magazine October 2007: “A good song has the ability to continue to reveal itself to you long after you’ve actually written it. This one’s pretty good (for that).” –Laure Latham