Boozy lunches still on the menu: Law firms bankroll juniors to schmooze clients in the City
The long lunch, a cornerstone for corporate workers wooing clients in the City, has been considered to be on the decline with the rise of hybrid working, stretched budgets, and a new cohort of young professionals opting for alcohol-free options. But at law firms, this tradition is not off the menu; instead, it is being ramped up, writes Rosie Harris-Davison.
For many of London’s law firms, the long lunch has retained its foothold. Partners are actively pushing the practice internally in a bid to boost associates’ confidence and get them out from under their desks to entertain clients. While booze is optional, it is not discouraged.
And it is not just lunch. Mayfair’s members’ clubs and hotels are teeming with lawyers schmoozing clients over smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, as a resurgence of one outing in particular, the client breakfast, has taken hold.
Eversheds Sutherland, a City-based firm, is giving its lawyers a £350 budget each to spend specifically on entertaining clients, City PM understands. As AI use rises within the firm, Eversheds’ bosses are using budgets as a tool to get the next generation of lawyers building relationships with clients face-to-face.
Senior office partner for London Chris Halliday said that whilst the firm is “seeing the benefits of AI adoption” across the business, “we also recognise the need for our next generation lawyers to be able to engage with our clients and develop trusted relationships with them.”
“We feel that this is best achieved through face-to-face interactions – not just at a senior level, but at all levels in the firm – our juniors need to build confidence and develop these skills, both along with senior colleagues, but also independently,” Halliday said.
He added that the firm is “therefore encouraging them to spend as much time as possible with clients and contacts, building and maintaining their networks and have made funding available to every lawyer in our business to encourage them to do so, whether over coffees, lunches, dinners, attending conferences and events.”
Other law firms including Quinn Emanuel, Winston Taylor and Baker McKenzie confirmed they have similar policies in place for their junior lawyers.
City law firm Mayer Brown has for years used an events programme to get its junior lawyers in front of clients. London managing partner Dominic Griffiths said: “We inaugurated our NextGen initiative, through which our associates set up events with clients and organise speakers and other activities around eight years ago; this was a unique initiative and has received universally positive feedback from our clients.”
“I will always seriously consider any associate request to entertain core and target clients,” Griffiths told City PM.
Gen-Z associates ‘hesitant to pick up the phone’
This comes as the next generation of young professionals are often penalised for workplace behaviour that differs from that of their seniors, including reluctance to engage with clients in the old-school way, talking face-to-face or over the phone.
Business leaders cited in Deloitte’s 2026 Gen Z and Millennial survey said they worry that an “early reliance on technology could hinder human capabilities such as critical thinking, communication, empathy, influence, and social skills” when looking at younger generations coming into the workforce.
Senior partners at Winston Taylor told City PM that many younger staff at the City firm are “hesitant to pick up the phone to call clients” when in the office.
The partners said, however, the next generation are “very keen” to go out and speak to clients face-to-face, particularly due to a heightened awareness of how AI may affect their roles in future and the importance of building relationships because of this.