chartThe breakdown of Ashurst Morris Crisp’s merger talks with New York’s Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson has sharply divided opinion among leading lawyers, according to this week’s Big Question survey.

Fifty-three percent of our panel of more than 100 leading lawyers said that the failure of the transatlantic merger meant Ashursts had missed a ‘golden opportunity’, while 47% concluded the London firm had had a ‘lucky escape’.