The Irish Law Awards were held last night at the Doubletree hotel in Dublin. It was a black-tie event, so at least the barristers could head along straight from work.

The awards were only launched in 2012, but William Fry had already won the law firm of the year award twice in the three years before this year's ceremony. It wasn't another of the top-tier firms who picked up the 2015 gong, however.

Eversheds, which has made no secret of its ambition to muscle in on the elite commercial firms, won the top award. It added almost 80 staff last year, bringing its total to about 225 in Dublin.

"This is a significant achievement for Eversheds and reflects the quality of our work, our growth and the fact that we are Ireland's only genuine full- service global law firm," said Eversheds managing partner Alan Murphy.

He sounded quite chuffed, didn’t he?

Murphy’s counterparts at the big rival firms will be aiming to strike back next year, one suspects.

There is apparently no truth to the rumour the hotel ran out of Louis XIII cognac on the night.