In a clear sign of the increasingly desperate state of the World economy, urgent consultations have been held within the Eversheds partnership on the future of their free Friday lunch.
RollOnFriday readers will be relieved to hear that, after careful deliberation, the partners have concluded that they should still have their lunch. However, bearing in mind that they have recently suspended partner profit distributions, made a bunch of associates redundant and ditched free meals for the rest, they will "embrace modesty", "stop serving wine" and "eschew puddings".
The following email was sent by the firm's London senior partner:
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From: Medvei, Cornelius Sent: 22 October 2008 13:22 To: Lon All Cc: Micheli, Alba; Meredith, Alan Subject: Partners Lunches Two or three partners have asked me whether we will be continuing to hold the Friday partners' lunch. One has questioned whether we should and another has expressed disquiet at being seen to have a free lunch whilst staff are losing their free breakfasts and times are generally difficult for many people. Mindful of that I carried out a straw poll of partners in the London office on Friday afternoon. Out of the dozen or so partners I could find in the office and not on their phones, 10 believed we should continue to have lunches, one was the latter of the two above and one said his vegetarian proclivities kept him away and he didn't feel able to comment. I strongly believe that, particularly in these difficult times, having lunch together and discussing the business and business opportunities is invaluable. I have discussed this with Bryan Hughes and also with Alan Meredith who subsequently raised the issue at the Senior Partners Telecon on Monday. Senior Partners across the firm were unanimous in sharing that view. However, I do think it behoves us to embrace modesty in our lunchtime choices and to stop serving wine with lunch. I have therefore agreed with Facilities that, starting this Friday, we will stop serving wine and have a more modest menu. I would be grateful for all feedback on the menu itself - which will include the traditional fish and chips but will eschew puddings. We can adjust the menu to reflect the wishes of the majority. [....] |
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