Lincoln’s Inn has fallen for the latest fad

The story of the out-of-touch 1960s High Court judge asking counsel ‘Who are the Beatles? Are they giving evidence in this case?’ is almost certainly apocryphal, as is the suave response (‘I believe they are a popular beat combo, m’lud.’). But a majority decision from the Benchers of Lincoln’s Inn this week shows that senior lawyers can still manage the remarkable feat of being at the same time both super-hip and blithely unaware of much going on around them. 

From its founding in the turbulent late fourteenth century the Inn has started all formal meals with a grace, the present version being: ‘Lord God, Heavenly Father, bless us and these Thy gifts which we receive from Thy bountiful goodness, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.’ On Tuesday, however, it abandoned this: from now on there will be a bland recitation of thanks for the food and company, of a kind not out of place at the annual dinner of a coarse fishing club or a society of dental technicians.