_{Rescuers available from DWF.}

Lawyers at Gowling WLG who resented the daily commute have had their wish granted after a spectacular plumbing issue closed the whole office this week.

The firm’s London office has “suffered a catastrophic burst pipe”, a delighted source told RollOnFriday. Giddy with the return of “Covid-era working from home”, the insider said the office was “unlikely to be safe to reopen for a number of months”.

“Dead pigeons have nothing on this”, they said, referring to their office’s unexpected aptitude for killing birds by trapping them behind its facade. Now it can drown them, too.  

The firm was more optimistic. Sarah Felger, Gowling WLG’s COO, told ROF that "Our London office is temporarily closed due to water damage resulting from a burst water pipe”. But, she said, “We expect to start a phased reopening of our space within the next couple of weeks”.

"Client service is not impacted and our teams remain fully operational", Felgar added.

RollOnFriday visited the firm’s offices, which occupy the same development as Norton Rose Fulbright and Womble Bond Dickinson on the south bank of the Thames, but couldn’t see any raging floodwaters from the lobby.

Given that some of the firm's lawyers previously complained to ROF that “A load of us are not happy with the change to 60% of time in the office”, they will be hoping “phased reopening” is a euphemism for “it’ll take ages but we'll open a little bit to float in”.