Ever the traditionalist, The Diary likes to imagine that law firm chiefs occasionally meet to compare notes over their various plans for world domination in smoke-filled gentlemen's clubs between high-stakes hands of poker.

Not so, it turns out, as news emerges of a chance meeting of two luminaries of the northeast legal scene that took place back in the mists of time between the pumps of a petrol station forecourt.

Over a splash of four-star, one senior figure in the Hammonds hierarchy unveiled details of his latest masterplan to boost profitability.