By any standard it has been a remarkable recovery. Three years ago Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft’s City arm was held in many quarters as a textbook example of aggressive US invaders misjudging and floundering in the competitive London market.

Despite launching in 1997 with a group of credible up-and-comers, by 2000 defections had left a practice heavily reliant on rising insolvency star Andrew Wilkinson.