“This will be the year when the chickens finally come home to roost. We believe that the top firms are going to get all their bad news out in one profit hit in the hope that the upturn will allow them to make serious headway next year. It is going to make grim reading.”

So says one top law firm banker. It is a view that is borne out by Legal Week research into the underlying profit and revenue figures the UK’s top firms are preparing to announce for the latest financial year.