Norton Rose Fulbright has compensated staff for the lack of a 2020 summer party with a takeaway bonanza.

The firm has given each employee £50 to splash on Deliveroo in lieu of its usual annual bash.

The office party has been a tragic casualty of the pandemic, and means lawyers will miss out on:

• small talk with partners in other departments for whom they worked briefly on a deal two years ago.
• spotting whether peers from their intake are hobnobbing easily with big hitters or shunned and floundering.
• being present at the birth of seven affairs and a future NDA.

Instead they will have to make do with a bucket of KLUK fried chicken, Nandos or KFC. "It's a nice gesture", said a solicitor. "We don't even have to maintain awkward chat as we watch each other eat messily over Zoom - it's to spend with friends and family". Or just themselves.

Despite admitting that he was "embittered", a senior associate conceded it was "fair play" by management, as they "could have easily just pocketed this money".

Has your firm given you a Covid perk? Let us know.