2014 saw lawyers buckling down to work as the market began to recover, but there were several who found time for exciting diversions.

Ranking high in the sleaze stakes was DLA Piper partner Nick West. In leaked emails he was revealed to have referred to women as "gash", but somehow dodged punishment at the firm by promising not to do it again (and by being a partner). Other charmers were less lucky. The romeo partner who sent threatening texts to his favourite prostitute, including the come-to-bed classic "Go die in a hole street walker", was found guilty of harrassment. And the young law student who slapped a sleeping girl's face with his member found his career was over before it had begun.

    Spotted at DLA Piper

Sex was the lawyer's vice of choice in 2014. A top Taylor Wessing partner resigned after making out with a trainee and a Singaporean lawyer boasted about her blowjob skills on facebook. But there was room for every sort of cock-up. A Capsticks partner was sacked for suspected ferocious embezzlement, while a Clifford Chance partner sang an ill-judged song describing a former associate as a jihadist and a terrorist.

But not every lawyer who made the news was a wrong 'un. Rebecca Stevens hit the orange headlines for all the right reasons when her commitment to pro bono caught a judge's attention.
 

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