Like Take That and flares, restrictive covenants are fixtures of a bygone age that are supposed to have outlived their usefulness, but will not actually go away. That is because law firms largely assume that, while they may lurk in rivals’ partnership deeds, no-one bothers enforcing covenants or even penal notice periods these days.

The standard practice when recruiting is to look at the formal exit terms of potential partner hires during the discussion stage – and then just ignore them.