Aspiring lawyers hoping to gen up on the state of the UK legal market can earn a few easy brownie points by citing the bleedin’ obvious: top law firms are back in boom mode.

This year’s Legal Week top 50, published in July, shows the group has had easily its best 12 months since the last boom year of 2000-01, with the group averaging revenue growth of 13.1% while partner profits rose by 19.1%.