| COVER STORY: Darling buds As Britain gets ready to vote, Blair's favourite lawyers face their critics |
In this month's issue
 Tony Blair's darling buddies of May 5th are out in force. The Prime Minister's re-election campaign has begun. A third-term New Labour is desperate to blossom, but as we report in our cover feature, Labour grandees such as civil rights champion Geoffrey Bindman are withering in their criticism of the cosiness of top business lawyers and what was once the party of the people. Class actions are more of a threat than class war these days, and the City of London knows it. The outflow of Fountain Court barristers to the government benches of the Lords is something to behold; Herbert Smith breeds Blairites like no other law firm in Britain, while the multifarious pursuits of 'DLA Upstream' (part of the new global giant DLA Piper) brings a different type of proximity: professional, paid-for lobbying. Talk about full service and then some. Certainly, the governing New Labour and some of the country's brightest commercial legal brains are found to be far nearer to each other than traditional Labour voters would once have expected. Question is, is it a natural consequence of a powerful executive needing top legal minds close by, or a concentration of influence that is leaving senior Labour figures such as Bindman feeling queasy when observing the millions of pounds of legal fees that taxpayers shell out to large law firms on government-sponsored projects. Legal Business investigates a rosy political clique - and some of the thorns in its side. Tom Freeman, Editor | LEGAL BUSINESS APPOINTMENTS | THE LEADER Pritchard
The politics of fear of the bank balance | THE BUSINESS
The month's news, analysis and comment that counts. Led from the front by new associate editor, James Baxter | THE FORUM
Contrasting growth plans are proposed by two very different law firm leaders |  PANEL REVIEWS Impersonal services
Panels and price-led panel reviews have always rankled with partners who believe personal trust and relationships to be the bedrock of the best legal work. Tough luck - it's an inescapable part of modern competitiveness, James Baxter discovers | COVER STORY ELECTION SPECIAL Knew Labour
Being a lawyer close to Labour is proving to be a bed of roses for some. Others, such as Labour legal grandee Geoffrey Bindman, think things are growing out of control. James Lewis reports in a general election special |  TOP 50 US LAW FIRMS IN LONDON
Elusive rainmakers
Americans are making great strides in London - except in the crunch area of top-level English M&A advice. We review London's best US firms, and investigate why the pieces are missing from the corporate jigsaw | LEEDS FOCUS Star billings
A disproportionate number of the UK's leading international law firms hail from Leeds. Richard Lloyd talks to the current crop of local leaders who have inherited some hefty legacies |  GERMANY FOCUS Puzzled state
No definitive guide exists for fixing the enduring enigma that is a cohesive German practice. But Chris Crowe reports on some independent firms who are making a better fist of it than several of their larger international rivals | THE BACK PAGE The art of the matter
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