| COVER STORY: Heavy Duty Exclusive: the top-five clients of the UK's largest firms and the pressure to keep them loyal |
In this month's issue Depending on when you've chosen to pick up this page, you'll either be about to come to the Legal Business Awards ceremony - Thursday 12 February, Grosvenor House Hotel - you'll actually be there, you'll have been, or you'll have missed it. Such is life. Please accept from all of us a 'See you there; hello; hope you had fun; or bad luck', depending, once again, on your given circumstances. Despite such risks of timing, the Legal Business Awards ceremony is worth a further mention nevertheless. First, take note of this year's headline awards sponsor, Bentley Motors. It doesn't get much finer than this. (So you see, all ye who made the closely guarded shortlists, you really are in great company.) Our awards celebrate the year's finest crop of partners, teams and firms, in the UK and beyond. It's a night to recognise the best operators in the business. And as such we welcome Bentley, with its inimitable brand, reputation and all-round glamour. We hope this will add even more lustre to a night that has long been dubbed 'the Oscars of the legal profession'. Jack Dee is our host. A full and suitably laconic report of events will follow in March. Meanwhile, please carry on with this issue, replete as it is with an exclusive cover story about your rivals' finest assets. We think it's rather timely.
Tom Freeman | LEGAL BUSINESS APPOINTMENTS | PRITCHARD
Client hauls and red herrings | NEWS
Stephenson Harwood's new chief exec must tackle PEP urgently | ACQUISITION FINANCE He who dares…
Vanessa Pawsey provides the definitive analysis of the acquisition finance mid-market players. Star laterals are being hard fought over by firms determined to grow market share. The problem is the market's saturation point |  THE AWARDS The event of the year
This year, the Legal Business Awards' headline sponsor is Bentley. Power and glory come guaranteed |  NEW YORK LAW FIRM MERGERS Bigger apples
Tal Gutstadt reports from the US on how the key New York mergers are shaping up. Who's left for a Brit to consider biting into? |  THAMES VALLEY FOCUS California it ain't
OK, no one would confuse Reading for Palo Alto. But a small number of Thames Valley law firms are now at the centre of a returning influx of deals. James Lewis reports | TOP FIVE CLIENTS Balance of power
Here are the crown jewels of the UK's top-25 law firms: their five biggest clients last year. In a major new report by corporate correspondent Richard Lloyd and deputy editor Claire Smith, Legal Business paints a picture of 2004's new reality |  AUSTRIA LAW FIRMS State of the Union
Austria's Viennese set are hugely profitable, highly sophisticated legal service providers. But only a couple of Anglo-Saxon firms are in the city. Charles Birts reports | OPINION PIECE - ASSISTANT LAWYERS People power
With the economy finally picking up, have you got enough assistants? Roll on Friday's Matthew Rhodes says, until attitudes change, resources will continue to be misdirected | FINANCE EXTRA Asset finance in flux
David Osborne of Watson, Farley & Williams presents an overview of the latest developments in international asset finance, complementing the Christmas Legalease Special Report: finance correspondent Vanessa Pawsey's Finance 2004 | | CORPORATE | | FINANCE | | REAL ESTATE | | LITIGATION | | TMT | | INTERNATIONAL | | BACK PAGE |
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