That late-night completion feeling.
Fears that remote working has killed off the office romance may be premature if the gossip landing on ROF Towers’ doormat is any indication.
After RPC announced that it was cancelling firmwide Christmas parties because not enough staff were turning up to events anymore, some commentators concluded that law was in danger of becoming a profession of shut-ins.
However, the mountain of gossip which greeted ROF after the summer break suggests otherwise.
Although we don’t normally report on intra-office romances unless the adverse consequences for colleagues reach a particular threshold – public sex acts in the office, for example – ROF decided that a small sample of blind items might reassure readers that law is as libidinous as ever.
At one US firm’s London office, “[X], Mr Big Shot, low hanging dick himself has, quelle surprise, been embarking on an extra marital affair with his team member [Y] in plain sight”, a source said in a message representative of several describing intra-office affairs.
“The vast majority of his colleagues are aware.” They usually are.
It’s not just City law which is hot under the collar. It’s incestuous up north, too, where at one firm, “[Partner 1] is in a relationship with [Partner 2], [Partner 3] is in a relationship with [Junior 1] that he met as a trainee, and [Partner 4] hired [Junior 2], whom she married”.
It’s a small business to enjoy quite so much coupling-up, but there’s more than that going on at possibly the most shagadelic firm in the uK, according to a source.
There’s also “[Partner 5] (who, by the way, is married to [Junior 3]), who is besotted with [Junior 4], who has moved to [his office branch] at his request. Rumour has it that, at another partner’s summer BBQ, they had to be separated from a longing embrace - with his wife watching”.
In-house love affairs are not without risk, as another solicitor observed at his workplace.
“[B], the most senior Solicitor in the entire business, has been embroiled in a bit of a scandal. As a married man, he had been having a fairly open affair with [C, a female junior colleague]… and this is not some sort of secret, it's openly known and even discussed.”
“[C] was promoted a few times into senior positions over others despite having little relevant experience, but matters have recently come to a head and people have started to make unsubtle comments”. Meanies.
Those comments reached management, and resulted in the head of the business "giving [B] an ultimatum, that either he goes or she goes. Unsurprisingly, she recently moved to [a national firm], with a glowing reference from [B] himself”.
It turns out that B and C weren’t doing anything unusual for managers in the company, who all work together in an isolated head office and, it seems, have all paired off.
An insider suggested a new tagline: “Do what we say, not who we do”.
“There is unease at how many of the senior people are in relationships”, they said. “We have [Head 1] and [Head 2], and the married [Head 3] and the married [Head 4]”.
There's speculation among staff that "there might be something in the water”, although they've agreed that it should make the Christmas party and the mistletoe "quite interesting this year”.
Even lockdown couldn't completely snuff out love between colleagues - although those who indulged were forced to take extraordinary measures.
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Comments
24
61
Jealousy is a terrible thing!
44
12
I don't understand these old farts don't just go on a sugar baby website. Why poo on what you eat?
80
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What an utterly pointless article. "Partner X" at City law firm is having an affair. And the revelation is...? Name no names and it effectively becomes a dull work of fiction. Desperate times at moribund ROF.
36
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Chill out Doc, it's just a bit of fun
40
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New story: Furious Neckbeard 'Dr Paul' In Tears Over Free Article
I assume that although you want other people outed for having consensual relationships that isn't your real name and you wouldn't be happy disclosing it? One rule for thee, another for me?
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Halliwells, circa 2008, particularly the Manchester office. As a fee earner, you had to be super polite to all, er, support staff, because you just never knew who.
54
9
At my last firm, the married head of department gave a leaving speech in the office. His wife came in for it, it was very pleasant. Except he had also had a 15 year affair with his secretary, who was collapsing behind the happy couple in floods of tears. Wife put on a brave face. I like to think she just thought her husband was a great boss.
51
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Reminds me of a corporate partner who each year without fail selected the most attractive trainee in the new intake, wined and dined her and moved her in, then broke her heart the next September. Think he's at a US firm now.
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In my time working there, three of the nine female trainees were having relationships with their (Partner) supervisors.
Maybe that’s a beautiful love story, but to me it pointed to a rather grubby work culture.
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[City firm] was a cess pit. Over a short period, knew of at least 5 confirmed office romances and ONS between trainees (one spanner thought he'd show what a big man he was by sharing photos of his ONS 'conquest' the morning after), junior and senior lawyers. The kind of infighting and politicking that flowed from this was popcorn gold although it meant some lawyers just could not be placed in the same deal team after falling out/broken hearts/whatevs.
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Popbitch does a 'What people are asking' blind item each week about a celebrity scandal, Dr Paul. Don't read it you'll hyperventilate, but I assume it allows a tale to be told which otherwise couldn't be... because of risk/it's impossible to confirm (which I can see being the case if everyone in a firm is having affairs with each other).
18
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Joshua Wright is reading this and thinking they all sound like complete amateurs.
He's managed everything in it by Thursday, and he's picking up a cheque for it.
20
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Yes, bunch of betas compared to the 'campus casanova'* himself
https://www.rollonfriday.com/news-content/freshfields-and-kirkland-lawyers-hit-108m-defamation-claim
*nb questions of consent complicating conquest complicity
39
5
Ugh. These kind of firms are hell to work for.
Your job depends on keeping a running tally of who is currently entangled with whom, and constant treading on eggshells in case you upset the wrong person's bit of stuff. Meanwhile promotions are handed out on an even less fair basis than usual.
23
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My old firm has a head of department who married his junior associate. At least three affairs between partners in the same teams, that have been publicly going on (and off and on and off) for years. A few marriages between associates that years later means partners are now married to key clients which will end well with all the cheating. A partner who cheated on his wife (previously at the firm) with his associate and then had a standup row in the office in front of everyone. A couple of relationship breakdowns resulting in partners leaving the firm. The constant drama is exhausting and I don’t know how the place doesn’t end up on here every other week.
18
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Worth looking at [X's] Bristol office 👀 where 2 partners have openly been having an affair for years.
18
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For those who can’t tell which firm this is, it’s Jones Day’s London office.
23
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On this occasion, it wasn't, JD Associate!
23
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One Dept Head
One Paralegal
Ons Shag
One Pregnancy
Two Sackings
Thats the [X] Way
22
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I wouldn't be surprised if [X] is mentioned here. I walked in on a Partner bending a trainee over in the disabled toilet just before covid. The third floor for anyone wondering.
21
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At my last firm a partner's wife provided great entertainment when she stormed the office to confront her husband about his affair with one of his trainees. She was not a happy camper!
23
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Either name names or don't bother, ROF
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@10.44 - if it was consensual its fine
17
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@13.49 - X the Partner or X the Trainee?
16
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Shout out to the Scottish advocate who, during his time as an agent, left his laptop in a hotel room that was returned to his firm. His excuse of "must have fallen out of my backpack while cycling" didn't really explain how it was found inside a hotel room.
Nothing at all to do with him being seen with a woman who wasn't his now wife...
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@13:35 - who was sacked and for what?
5
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Quickly checks NDAs…
5
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Reminds me of the London firm where two married (to other people) tax partners were having an affair.
The partnership, knowing said male partner would never leave his wife, reorganised the entire department - splitting it onto different floors - for the day when the affair would end.
7
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At one firm I worked for the divorce rate among partners was extraordinarily high. So many affairs with secretaries. Partners were either divorced or never married. Very few married partners.
Monthly drinks were the worst for partners trying to hook up with secretaries. Some had to be bundled into taxis to keep them out of a particular partner's reach.
When one of the separated partners in his 50s is attending the 21st birthday party of his latest squeeze, things are pretty screwed up.
6
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@Doctor D - presumably for the same reason the young farts poo on what they eat and don't go on a sugar daddy website.
7
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@[email protected] - I think what Dr Paul is saying is that without the accused being named it hard to tell if the stories are true or just malicioys gossip. This is regardless of whether or not the commenters are anonymous.
5
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@Arachnae - never knew who what?
7
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Over the last two years at the London office of a US firm where my sister's housemate worked: (1) a partner has been forced to leave in disgrace after an incident involving a trainee half his age (but inexplicably avoided being struck off); (2) another partner is busily conducting an affair with one of his junior associates, hot off the heels of a fling with his secretary; (3) at least two trainees have been in relationships with their supervisors; and (4) a now-departed partner was known for drunkenly pawing at pretty trainees during departmental socials. I gather that none of this was considered to be particularly shocking by the standards of the City.
6
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I’ve tried it on with loads of ladies. It never succeeded.
is there something wrong with me?
The rest of the profession seems to be engaged in permanent orgies and he sec parties.
7
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@[email protected] - wonder what she thought of the secretary!
8
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@[email protected] - or to put it another way the trainee selected the partner each year. Where are they now?
6
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I once worked for an American firm where it was so common for lawyers to have affairs with their Juniors and especially their young attractive PA's, that there had to be an emergency meeting where this was discussed and then explicitly banned to do this in the future. SO this is all old news
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@Shall we talk about Freeths? - what's 'grubby' about consensual relationships?
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@[email protected] - although relationships between consensual adults doesn't create a 'cesspit'.