One Diary spy this week got more than she bargained for when a flat-hunting mission in trendy northwest London revealed a chilling glimpse into the grim reality of associate life at an hours-conscious US firm.

The current tenant, a junior lawyer at White & Case, had been renting the property for about a year – although she was some way off from achieving that achingly fashionable ‘lived-in’ look that is so hot in the City right now.