Legal work has been dominated by the teams of corporate lawyers. Regulatory lawyers have been in demand, particularly with the auction for third generation mobile licences in the UK looming. The market for legal services has been increasingly dominated by the top five. Clifford Chance retains its eminence, although it has been notably absent on the operator side of life in the mega-deals. Clifford Chance seems remarkably stable at partner level, while Linklaters does not quite have the personalities in the way the others do.
Slaughters remains underpartnered, although what is there is quite excellent.
The UK firms, though, are being stalked in turn by some of the US firms, in an interesting parallel of the gradual domination of US operators across the world. Time will tell whether the increased interest of US telecoms companies in world markets will lead to a gradual dominance of US law firms. As the guide went to press, it was announced that noted telecoms player Chris Hoyle was leaving Rakisons for the new KPMG-associated firm, KLegal. The market for IT legal services is much more fragmented, primarily because there is not a single definition for the rag-bag of legal commercial work thrown up by the IT industry. Nonetheless, IT lawyers are in demand by firms.