Considering the 18-month depression in US capital markets and the absence of big ticket M&A, the news that one of Wall Street’s corporate leaders saw its profits decline by 30% in 2001 may seem, in isolation, a respectable result.

Unfortunately for Shearman & Sterling, whose 2001 partner profits fell to an average of $950,000 from more than $1.22m the previous year, one thing that even the most established New York’s firms do not operate in is a vacuum.