Dechert's 2005 figures are nothing short of phenomenal, with the Philadelphia-headquartered firm posting a 30 per cent rise on its 2004 turnover. This has rocketed Dechert 12 places up the rankings, one of the biggest jumps this year.

Dechert also boasted almost 20 per cent more lawyers at the end of the 2005 financial year than it did 12 months earlier. The bulk of the new additions came from the New York office of Swidler Berlin, which decamped en masse following the firm's demerger from Shereff Friedman Hoffman & Goodman. There was also the opportunistic hire of the Paris and Brussels offices from the imploding Coudert Brothers.

There was steady expansion in 2006 too. Seven IP lawyers jumped from Dewey Ballantine to Dechert, including Bryan Farney, who opened Dechert's Austin office.

The firm decided it wanted part of the Islamic finance action and promptly hired partner Michael McMillen from King & Spalding to launch a team. He wasted no time in netting Norton Rose associate Abradat Kamalpour as a partner in London and Clifford Chance private equity partner Andreas Junius for New York.

Dechert has its sights on Asia too, announcing in February that it had applied for a licence to practice in China.

There have been rejigs to the firm, with new premises in New York and a new global policy committee, which oversees worldwide strategy, voted in. And in July the London office announced that it would put its associate salaries in line with those at magic circle firms.

Standout mandates this year for Dechert include successfully representing pharma company Merck in part of its ongoing litigation surrounding rheumatoid arthritis medication Vioxx. The firm also managed to poach former in-houser Kathleen O'Connor from Merck as a tort partner.

• The Top 100: 26-50