Hanging up in Legal Week’s plush boardroom is a framed copy of the magazine’s first issue and its accompanying headline ‘CC plots Mallesons merger’. That was six years ago almost to the day.

It would certainly not be true to say that the wheel has now turned full circle – for a start, it is hard to imagine a top Australian firm such as Mallesons Stephen Jaques ever again getting close to securing a tie-up with a major UK or US international firm.