Pandora: Charlie won't be going back to law school

(Getty)

When Lord Goldsmith snagged a lucrative position at US law firm Debevoise & Plimpton, the deal was not without its complications: the former Attorney General was forced to return to the classroom and sit his Qualified Lawyer Transfer test to become a solicitor.

At the time, Goldsmith complained of familial teasing, claiming his children had taken to asking whether he had "packed his sharpened pencils for the exam", but it was widely claimed that the move was a necessary one. For the holder of such a political role, any return to the courtroom would be seen as contentious.

Pandora was surprised, however, to find that the same won't apply when Lord Falconer returns to practice. Last week the one-time Lord Chancellor signed up with prestigious firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, also of the United States. Surely a trip to the classroom was warranted?

Apparently not. "As far as I know he won't have to take any exams," said Tom Budd, the co-partner-in-charge of Gibson and Dunn London.

"He doesn't really need to. He won't be a solicitor; he will still be in the role of barrister – although he's unlikely to appear in English courts."

Curious. The press release had the role as that of a "hands-on lawyer."

Kelly's a real ethics girl

Nice to see that R&B's good girl is living up to her reputation. At the launch for Evisu's new diamond range, the former Destiny's Child singer Kelly Rowland, left, declared that she wouldn't be buying anything that she wasn't convinced was ethical.

"I've been asking all sorts of questions about where things are from," she told me. "Whenever I purchase something – or even if I'm given something – I always make sure to know its history. You need to know who made it, where it comes from, everything. It's very important."

Nice work...

Fellow party-goer Caprice was in a somewhat less conscientious frame of mind. The model, currently launching a new underwear range, spent much of the evening talking business.

"I'm having to do all the modelling myself," she complained. "I wish I could just dump it all on to another girl, but last time I did that my sales went down 63 per cent."

Accompanying the leggy blonde was a small dog – confusingly, not her own. "This one is my friend's," she clarified. "I have my own, but she's scared of the noise."

Comrade Brown

Gordon Brown and Russia's president Dmitry Medvedev were far from friendly at last week's G8 summit. So Pandora was surprised to hear Brown praising him back in the UK. "He's a nice young man," insisted the PM at the John Smith Foundation. "And he seemed to enjoy himself."

A taste of his own medicine

I was intrigued to read of Colin Myler's claim that "he knew it was unpleasant to film someone having sex, because it had happened to him."

To what could the News of the World editor be referring?

A member of Myler's staff clarified: "Years ago, a television crew erected a camera outside his house to give him a taste of his own medicine. Unfortunately his neighbours notified the police, who removed the camera immediately."

Tyrone pines for his poster pin-up

And so to London's Scream Gallery, where proprietor Ronnie Wood was conspicuously absent from the launch of Sony BRAVIA's Scream In High Definition exhibition.

His son Tyrone presided over events, showing little sign of concern as to his father's whereabouts. "I'll be doing an exhibition with him next week," he assured me.

More sorely missed was Tyrone's girlfriend Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, pictured right, who was recently unveiled as the star of Burberry's autumn advertising campaign.

"She's in New York," said Wood. "I'm very proud of her. It's quite strange seeing her picture everywhere. I spent the morning taking photos of her billboard. Some people must have thought I was a real weirdo."