mid-tier firms are still losing out to the magic circle on deals such as the upcoming partygaming ipoIt is every corporate partner’s nightmare. You target a sector and cultivate a client only to find that the instruction goes to a larger firm come the make-or-break deal.

For Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) that deal turned out to be the most high profile float to hit the City for years – the upcoming £5bn initial public offering (IPO) of online gaming group PartyGaming. Enter Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.