The boot was on the other foot last week, when Obiter found himself cast as a token male at the International Women in Law Summit 2012. He listened with humility as Law Society vice-president Lucy Scott-Moncrieff told delegates that senior male partners generally thought they deserved their success, rather than it being a mere ‘accident of birth’ that they were not born female. Set up on your own, she urged delegates, it’s the one way to be sure that ‘your male boss is not being unfair’.

City firm Ashurst partner Helen Burton told a breakout group about an all-women shortlist for promotion that she and others had to consider. She said: ‘Someone wondered whether we should add a man to make it look good, even though for years it had been OK to have all-men shortlists…’ A delegate had the final word: ‘Women are more efficient than men - and more honest.’

Obiter sloped off home, duly chastened.