Readers might think legal directories are a dry, even weighty, read. But The Diary does come across the occasional fun tit-bit – and for some reason most of them involve those crazy New York insurance-meisters Debevoise & Plimpton.

For instance, the firm’s founding partner, William Stevenson (it was launched as Debevoise & Stevenson in 1931) won a gold medal at the 1924 Olympic Games for the 4×400-metre relay.