When McGrigors shocked the market in March 2002 with its merger with the London legal arm of accounting giant KPMG, many Scots firms looked on with envy. In one fell swoop, the firm had boosted its City presence, now standing at about 90 fee earners, and joined a network of more than 3,000 lawyers working with KLegal around the world.

But in April this year it was announced that two of McGrigors’ most senior partners were to leave. This followed last year’s decision by KPMG to cease funding KLegal in 2004 due to the new post-Enron regulatory restrictions on lawyer/accountant links.