Lawyers caught in lapdance saloon

A senior lawyer who thought he would entertain his clients in the best way possible took them to a lapdancing club at the firm's expense.

But when Clifford Chance - one of the world's biggest law firms whose partners earn up to £850,000 a year - found out, there was hell to pay. Now the partner has been forced to issue a humiliating apology to colleagues "for bringing the law firm into disrepute".

Today there was a dispute over exactly what happened. A spokesman for Clifford Chance said their man had to be virtually dragged into the seedy Spearmint Rhino club in Tottenham Court Road at the end of an alcoholic evening trip on the Thames.

However, the story told by others is that he made all the running and once inside the club disappeared on his own "for a private dance".

It would appear that no disciplinary action has been taken against the partner, although presumably a bill from the club will not form part of his expenses claim this month. A spokesman for the firm, which traces its history back 200 years and generated nearly £1billion revenue last year, said today: "It is a very unfortunate set of circumstances. We are not taking this lightly at all. We don't condone it in any way but as far as we are concerned it is over. He has apologised to his partners - it is a done deal."

The evening's events began with the boat trip where a lavish dinner was served. Much champagne was consumed and when people tottered ashore in the late evening, not everyone wanted to go straight home.

One report suggests that the lawyer, a senior partner in litigation, shouted: "We're going for some sex" before leaving for the club in a taxi. He is said to travel often to Eastern Europe on business and to have said that there "lapdancing clubs are better because there you're allowed to touch the girls".

Today the man from Clifford Chance said: "It wasn't him taking them. That is where they wanted to go." The suggestion that those who had just enjoyed such hospitality had shown rather bad form in leaking what happened later was left hanging in the air.

The choice of venue is the problem. Spearmint Rhino has been investigated by police who said last year: "Activity within the club, intentionally or otherwise, borders on offences of prostitution and permitting the keeping of a brothel."

It emerged last month that owner John Gray, who has just bought a £1million home in Buckinghamshire, has served a jail sentence for fraud. Last month the club's head waitress Samantha McGaw, who earned £26,000 a year plus £5,000 a month in tips, won £60,000 compensation from Spearmint Rhino who sacked her after she became pregnant.

Solicitors arriving at Clifford Chance's offices near the Barbican were keeping tight-lipped on the affair today. Most either refused to comment or denied knowledge.

One woman lawyer, who refused to be named, said she had heard nothing of a partner being forced to apologise. Asked if colleagues were known to attend lapdance clubs, she said: "If they did, I'm not sure I would get to hear about it."

And what about the women?