Daily Diary

Deck the halls...

Posted 18/12/2006 by legalweekblogs.com SU

In case you were wondering how to spend your free time this Christmas (especially for those long-suffering associates at top 20 City firms for whom time out of the office is a novelty) you could do worse than learn from the industrious example of workaholic Herbert Smith finance partner Chris Fanner.

Fanner was forced to endure nine entire months away from the office after resigning last December from Denton Wilde Sapte, as the top 20 firm cruelly sentenced exiting partners to endless months of leisure in return for their normal earnings.

Impressively, Fanner did not idle the days away with traditional time-fillers such as pregnancy or barefoot back-packing up the north face of Everest. Taking the term 'gardening leave' at its most literal, Fanner took up workman's tools in his gnarled hands and built the charming decking pictured below.

Witness the craftsmanship of the pyramid motif atop the main supports, the classical even spacing between posts and the subtle choice of timber to make the new fence not quite match the old one next to it. Nice use of tarpaulins for that touch of ghetto chic, too.

Can YOU do better with tales of gardening leave productivity? Email thediary@legalweek.com, putting 'Nine months off and all I got was this lousy t-shirt' in the subject field.

Fan about the house: DIY king Chris turns carpenter to deck out his stately home with a charming rustic edifice. The lawn might need a mow though