The magician one national firm has booked five years running.

A law firm event has a different tone than a typical office party: senior partners, major clients, and a reputation to maintain even at the holiday party. Close-up magic reads as clever and controlled rather than loud, which is exactly what a room full of lawyers and their guests responds to.

It's also the rare entertainment that gets a partner and a first-year associate reacting the same way, in the same conversation, which is harder to engineer than it sounds.

Melissa Wong at McCarthy Tétrault was hesitant the first time. We had talked about three hours and she booked two, which is a fair way to test someone you have never seen work. That was December 2022, at Riley's Fish & Steak on Burrard, 243 guests. I did my two hours and left knowing I had not covered the room — there were tables I never reached. What I did reach went well enough that she wrote the line at the top of this page.

She has booked every year since, and the coverage has gone up rather than down: two hours again at Coast, then Glowbal, then three hours at the Loft at Earls Yaletown for 300 people. Now she asks whether three is enough. I have never raised her rate in five years, and I am not going to — I like the room, I like the people, and more work has come out of that one party than out of most of my advertising.