Quite simply, Slaughters has far more to lose than the aspirational law firms lower down the evolutionary line. Here, less profit is expected, partners are more familiar with price wars, and pitching for panel work is seen as an opportunity rather than a threat. What's more, though it racks up the overheads, most firms in the upper half of the LB100 employ clever, single-minded, bean counting minions who are prepared to face up to the dreaded, martian-esque procurement officers who now stalk the lawyer's land.

Slaughters' partners, who between them probably have the direct telephone numbers of more FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 board members than any other collective human grouping, will increasingly find themselves redirected towards FDs, GCs and their employees; asked to form a line in the queue for a panel consideration. In our cover story, Legal Business talks to Slaughter and May's leaders to discover how they're going to cope with this new reality.

Tom Freeman, Editor