Senior lawyers have branded ‘sweetheart’ deals between banks and law firms to pass on higher legal rates to the banks’ corporate clients as unethical, according to Legal Week research, despite mounting evidence that the practice is widespread.

The results come in the latest Legal Week/EJ Legal Big Question survey of more than 100 leading lawyers, in which 67% of respondents said such deals were “not ethical”, and 70% said that they would be “uncomfortable” if the practice went on in their firm.