Obiter cannot work out if it’s a ringing endorsement or a damning indictment of this year’s series of The Apprentice that it features not a single lawyer.

The show has a great tradition for legal contestants – albeit ones that have rarely made it through to the final rounds.

This time, though, Lord Sugar (pictured) has instead chosen from an array of shiny-suited sales managers, IT consultants and hair salon owners.

The lack of a lawyer may be a blessing, as few of the previous candidates seem to have actually stayed in the law.

Corporate lawyer Anita Shah, fired in the first episode back in 2009, now promotes herself as a writer and broadcaster.

Barrister Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, who fell at the first hurdle in 2008, now promotes himself as an artist who has a style ‘characterised by whimsical detail, the use of strong colour and a fantastical mix of figurative expression and surreal imagery’.

Solicitors Felipe Alviar-Baquero and Lauren Riley, both from the class of 2014, have each excelled: Riley’s The Link App is making waves in the legal profession and Alviar-Baquero is a consultant on international infrastructure projects.

Alex Mills, of the famous eyebrows in 2013, did not pursue his ‘exciting legal franchise brand’ Dynamo Legal but instead has taken the Dynamo name into insurance for cyclists.

Unlike certain former Apprentice contestants whose mug is never off  the telly, Mills has kept a relatively low profile. Obiter’s last sighting of him on the gogglebox was in the BBC Question Time audience over the summer.

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