Contrary
to the title of the President's Message last month, June was the month of the
World Cup and it could not have been more apparent in law firms, who were hit
with a severe epidemic of footballitis.
Long before the afternoon of the first round of quarter-final matches, detailed plans were afoot on how to take time off to watch the matches. Miraculously, meetings with clients outside the office suddenly surfaced with a vengeance. That the meeting was to take place in front of a TV screen was, of course, purely coincidental or fortuitous.
DPPs were seen sporting scarves of their favourite teams over their customary black and white.
In many law firms, managing partners decided to give in to the inevitable and score some points as caring employers, not to mention catch the matches themselves - some actually taking off, leaving their juniors in the wake to hold the fort!
Television sets and refreshments were provided in many firms, and our roving reporter was even allowed in to capture the moment on film.
Others made plans to meet outside the office; pubs at Boat Quay and Central Mall saw fans from the legal fraternity gathered in troves.
The men and women in black at Pennyblack were less camera shy (or had obviously obtained prior approval from their bosses), but one group at Central Mall waved off our one-woman, camera-toting, roving paparazzi quite vehemently. One lawyer is rumoured to have made a dive, not for the goal, but under a table, in a bid to avoid being caught on film or faced with summary termination.
Over at the office of the publisher of the SLG, only one editor from the team remained valiantly standing, as others either took the afternoon off or made their way discreetly to a nearby hotel lounge to catch the match on the big screen.
And whoever said lawyers didn't know how to manage their time efficiently obviously didn't know about the lawyer who kept his appointment to visit his client in prison, and then made a coffee-shop stop along Changi to catch the action on the telly thereafter - all in a day's work.
Over at the Law Society, no function or seminar was planned in June without having a quick check of the World Cup fixtures. Secretariat staff, in a remarkable display of self-restraint also allegedly 'banned' themselves from getting within 10 yards of a working television set on match day, so that customer care would not thereby be compromised.
But nothing could stop Council members from pleading with the President to end the Friday meeting on time for them to catch the next match, and the agility of thought that accompanied the rallying cry was a sight to behold, as the meeting concluded without going into extra time.
The compelling reason, amongst others, for one lady Council member - the very cute Spanish goalkeeper! And that even though it was the Germans who were playing that night.
Whoever said soccer mania was only for the men, forgot that for many others, it's just a Beautiful Game!