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It seems the women at the Cleveland Bridge case were lusting after him on account of his evil charisma. Then, when the case was over, he took off his wig to reveal 鈥� he was bald.

At the meet, talk quickly turns to the modern construction barrister鈥檚 high-performance, international lifestyle.

Chris: 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of rock 鈥檔鈥� roll.鈥�

Oh, really? You have groupies?

Nicholas: 鈥淢anus has a few. There鈥檚 a very strange woman who wears a hat with flaps that comes to his cases 鈥︹��

And the clients, how do they choose their legal representative?

Justin (who hands out the cases): 鈥淚鈥檇 look at it for suitability and availability and the client鈥檚 requirements.鈥�

Don鈥檛 they just ask for the one who wins the most cases?

Manus: 鈥淏arristers don鈥檛 win or lose cases, they fight cases.鈥�

Chris: 鈥淵ou鈥檒l have somebody on the side that wins and they see you performing and think, well you did such a good job losing 鈥撯��

Nicholas: 鈥溾�� we鈥檇 like you to come and lose for us some time.鈥�

This seems like a good moment to tell Sarah鈥檚 anecdote, which is greeted with suitable hilarity.

Manus: 鈥淚 love it.鈥� He pauses, and I think I detect a moment of private sorrow. 鈥淵ou know they鈥檙e abolishing wigs in January?鈥�

Nicholas: 鈥淒o you want to keep wigs?鈥� Manus does. 鈥淚 think they add seriousness.鈥�

So being questioned by a man wearing a wig adds seriousness?

Nicholas: 鈥淎nd a black dress.鈥�

But don鈥檛 the laity find them intimidating?

Nicholas: 鈥淚ntimidating in a good way 鈥� that鈥檚 a sound bite.鈥�

The talk then moves on via traffic wardens鈥� caps and Chris鈥� Italian wife to an exchange of foreign proverbs, won by the Italian version of having your cake and eating it: 鈥淵our wife drunk and your bottle full鈥�.

Clearly the bottle is doing its work with us 鈥� helped by a game of Yahtzee with the bar in which we win a bucket of beers 鈥� and a heated discussion about the rules of magpie-spotting commences (you know 鈥� one for sorrow, two for joy). Manus says it doesn鈥檛 count if you see them through glass and Chris wonders how long a gap there can be before for the second magpie sighting is invalid.

From here it鈥檚 a short trip to anywhere, and as it happens we go to Wembley where the consensus is that a loss to Croatia would be a price worth paying for not having McClaren in charge for the World Cup.

Two nights later England duly lose. As well as Russia and Croatia, this is good news for Martin Bowdery, a senior member of chambers who always applies for the England job when it comes up. His main argument is that he鈥檇 be the only candidate to take a pay cut. We should know whether he鈥檚 been successful quite soon now.