The world is a little short of good news stories at the moment but this one might bring a tear to your eye…

As Lovells gaze across the Atlantic at a potential suitor in the form of Hogan & Hartson, the American rumour genie began to bubble out of the bottle yesterday. Whilst Lovells and Hogan & Hartson have been widely reported to be gearing up to promote the merger to their partnerships later this year, eyes were roaming over other possible tie-ups. US blog Above the Law got rather over-excited at some unsubstantiated rumours about Allen & Overy and [unspecified] . …

There are certain learning curves that the average human goes through in life, learning to talk, learning to walk that kind of thing. By the time you reach the stage where you are working in a large law firm it would be reasonable to assume that you had mastered the basics. And even if you haven’t made it to the echelons of being a partner one would hope that you would be able to deal with ever so slightly …