It is one where the business, be it from the City or from China, comes to them, rather than vice versa. Its brand is one of the legal world's strongest. From its lawyers point of view, the prioritisation of profit generation over other expenses is a decision whose demonstrable results go straight into partners' wallets.

The firm's younger lawyers see the carrot of equity partnership so gilded as to be worth sticking around for. The firm's international investments are limited to relationship development - secondments, dinners, phone calls. The pitch to clients is that the best of what's available for each transaction can be cherry-picked. Trust us, Macfarlanes says. Fellow professionals across the world remember being so entrusted to a Macfarlanes client, and the favour, when the time is right, is reciprocated.

This specially branded City of London edition of Legal Business weighs up the upsides, risks, and counter-arguments to such a strategy - from resurgent US firms, to the London loners, to the frailties that accompany a reliance on referrals.
Tom Freeman, Editor