Who knows what highly intelligent analysis was put to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer by McKinsey? The firm’s banking partners certainly seem to be struggling to communicate what insights the consultants have imparted, or what action the firm now intends to take to develop its finance practice.

But reading the runes, the notoriously pricey consultants essentially decided that Freshfields needs to build stronger relations with its core clients – hardly radical stuff and pretty much what the firm’s peers, save Slaughters, concluded a decade ago.