On Sunday, 20th September the CLSC sports team entered the Law Society’s pre-eminent annual sporting fixture spanning:
- Contact Rugby Sevens (men’s)
- Touch/Tag Rugby (mixed)
- Netball
- Men’s Five-a-Side Football
- Women’s Five-a-Side Football
Over 100 teams competed; the Festival is a magnet for young practitioners and a forum for inter-firm fellowship, recruitment and brand-building.
For the Company: the event directly advanced our recruitment, social mobility, and visibility objectives. We met numerous prospective Freemen and new joiners (including in-house counsel and alumni City solicitors).
CLSC Participation:
- We registered for all five competitions. On the day, we fielded:
- Tag Rugby (Mixed)
- Men’s Football
- Netball (first-time CLSC cohort; 5 Solicitor Apprentices + 1 Trainee)
Performance and Highlights:
- Tag Rugby (Mixed): Group stage: lost 5–3 to Hogan Lovells; lost 5–1 to Allen & Overy; beat Skadden.
- Advanced to the Bowl: beat Russell Cooke 3–2 (QF); beat William Fry (Ireland) 4–2 (SF); lost the Bowl Final to a strong Eversheds Sutherland side.
- Football (Men’s Five-a-Side): Competitive fixtures vs Norton Rose (2–1 loss); Trowers & Hamlins (4–1 loss); Dentons (2–0 loss).
Respectable showing for a scratch side primarily assembled for the day; opponents largely league-regulars.
- Netball: Our youngest representative squad this year: eight players comprising five Solicitor Apprentices, one Trainee, one in-house solicitor, and one Mayer Brown secretary.
Several participants had not played since school; the tournament catalysed renewed involvement and an appetite to convert into a regular league team.
