Combined with a global downturn, the hit taken by the technology market and the impact of foot and mouth disease, activity was not looking good in the Irish legal market at the start of 2002.

A mergers and acquisitions survey by corporate finance specialists Chapman Flood Mazars puts it in context. Irish companies spent e1.94bn (£1.19bn) acquiring 119 companies in 2001, less than 20% of the record e10.45bn (£6.43bn) spent by Irish corporates in 2000 acquiring 231 companies.