The Netherlands endured another year of comparatively low deal activity. A handful of major projects dominated, including Shell's €148.9bn (£101bn) restructuring to formRoyal Dutch Shell, VNU's €2.08bn (£1.41bn) sale of its directories business to Cinven and Apax, Mittal Steel, and the KLM/Air France merger. The low deal flow was not enough to stop Allen & Overy coming top in the Mergermarket table of Dutch corporate advisers by value on deals over €5m (£3.4m), completing 47 deals worth €25.03bn (£16.98bn). Heading the volume table was De Brauw BlackstoneWestbroek with 50 deals worth €15.31bn (£10.39bn). The only other domestic Dutch firms to feature in the top 20 of either table were Stibbe (with Herbert Smith and Gleiss Lutz), Nauta Dutilh, Loyens & Loeff and Houthoff Buruma, whichmade the charts with 16 deals worth €2.47bn (£1.68bn). No independent Dutch firmmade the European top 20.

The leading corporate firms found the going tough. For the domestic firms, a defining trend was to shrink headcount. Several top firms pruned partnerships, fee-earners and practice areas. De Brauw was one such firm. The partnership shrank from 80 to 73 during the year, while the total number of lawyers fell 8 per cent to 330. Revenues also dropped by 3 per cent to €115m (£78.02m). De Brauw chairman Jaap de Keijzer said it had been "a year of transition", and agreed that most of the largest Dutch firms had been shrinking. "But we are at the end of the cycle," he insisted. The firmconfirmed its position as the leading corporate Dutch independent, with roles in the Shell and Royal Ahold restructures and the VNU deal. It also saw its tax practice reborn with the hire of Freshfields ' Dick Hofland and three associates and former Merrill Lynch managing director Paul Sleurink. Nauta Dutilh also cut headcount and installed an entirely new management team, headed by chairman Marc Blom. Blom said: "It was a year full of changes but we are back on track." It also jettisoned its Rotterdam private client team in March 2005.

Nauta Dutilh's revenues crept up to €140m (£94.99m), thanks in part to its solid financial institutions client base. It was also a regular on the biggest M&A deals. Top of equity rose to €459,000 (£311,400) and average profits increased to €403,000 (£273,400).

Stibbe cut 50 fee-earners and 10 partners, although revenues grew slightly to €95m (£64.45m) globally and €92.6m (£62.8m) in Europe.

The country's largest firm, Loyens & Loeff, continues to show that its combination of tax and corporate muscle is a winner. It had a particularly good year in private equity, where star dealmaker Herman Kaemingk advised ABN Amro on the €230m (£156m) acquisition of Borstlap, and online auction site Marktplaats on its sale to eBay for a similar sum. Revenues grew by 5 per cent and have now reached €214m (£145.2m) globally and €189m (£128.2m) in Europe. Houthoff Buruma may not feature much in top-tier M&A, but corporate and finance head Jan van der Hart says it put in "a strong performance" in mid-market deals. Firmwide revenues rose 5 per cent to €84m (£57m), while corporate revenues rose 8 per cent, narrowly missing its 12 per cent budget. PEP was still up by some 4 per cent. Elsewhere, AKD Prinsen VanWijmen continues to fly the flag for the accountancy-tied firms. Though it is now independent from Deloitte & Touche, it has a 'preferred co-operation' relationship, whichmeans they do not share profits and have no exclusivity in referrals, but work together on deals. The firmhas shed about 15 partners in the last two years and closed its Dordrecht office in 2003. Profits reached €305,000 (£206,900) while revenues were €62m (£42.06m).