Daily Diary

Spiked: the Legal Week scoops that didn't quite make it

Posted 31/05/2007 by The Daily Diary

Disgracebook short of friends as staff banned from 'harmless' A&O site

By Arlex Wrighterese

Facebook has been engulfed in controversy after the highly-respected social networking website this week attempted to ban staff from using Allen & Overy (A&O) while at work.

The company moved to clamp down on unauthorised use of the shadowy law firm after concerns that staff were obsessed with following developments on A&O’s website, which has become cult viewing among hip dot.com professionals.

The site, the brainchild of secretive whiz-kids Davey 'Boy' Morley and Guy Beringer, works as a secure network that allows members, who refer to themselves as “associates”, to upload surreal pictures like light bulbs and post weird articles about Belgian securitisation.

Senior Facebook executives claimed that use of A&O was having a devastating impact on productivity as staff became hooked on the Spitalfield-based firm's hilarious jargon and excessive use of the word 'innovation'.

However, the move has provoked fury from Facebook staff, who argue that A&O is harmless fun and can even have business uses.

One Facebook staffer told Legal Week: “It’s not fair to stop us using A&O. I’ve won loads of business after meeting work contacts. Once you’ve bonded with a fellow A&O fan, it really breaks the ice and you can get down to more serious subjects.”

Another said: “This is ridiculous. A&O is a brilliantly witty spoof of a modern law firm. The soap opera in leveraged finance, the side-splitting 'Transparency in Law Firm Strategy' column and the 33-point core strategy... it’s almost like a real law firm. There’s absolutely no harm if hard-working staff want to unwind with a bit of A&O.”

Some web commentators have also argued that Facebook’s tough stance risks backfiring and that viewers would soon migrate to newer, funnier sites, such as Linklaters’ graduate recruitment blogs or SJB’s cult freesheet PLUM.

However, a Facebook spokesperson said that the company was sticking firmly to its A&O ban, arguing that the site was “a dreadful waste of time and a sad indictment of modern youth”.

He commented: “This kind of drivel may make law graduates smirk, but we’ve got a job to do.”

Facebook: highly-respected                                 A&O: harmless fun