2006 was another strong year for the London office of New York M&A machine Davis Polk & Wardwell, despite the office remaining without an English law capability. The office scored some superlative IPOs, including India’s largest, the £3.93bn flotation of Reliance Petroleum, led by tax partner John Paton. London corporate partner Tom Reid also scored a headline Indian IPO with the flotation of Cairn Energy on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

PEP at the firm, which is one of the few to remain avowedly an all-equity partnership with lockstep remuneration, is now well more than the £1m mark, giving London partners an average of £1.23m. But that prize is guarded jealously, with no promotions in London in 2006 and no lateral hires.