Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner David Ereira is a lawyer from the old school. Not for him the narrow specialism in a certain area of finance: Ereira can turn his hand to general financings, corporate restructurings and real estate deals.

Last year he chalked up an impressive list of transactions encompassing all of these areas. Ereira advised Apax on the financing of its acquisition of Travelex; Lehman Brothers on the restructuring of Meridien Hotels (the firm’s largest deal by fees in 2005); and was involved in Debenhams’ £495m sale-and-leaseback with British Land.

Keen to keep his work-life balance in check, Ereira refuses to cancel a holiday just because a deal is about to close. This meant that last summer, he helped to negotiate a settlement on a case for Apollo Management from a sailing boat off the Turkish coast. Sheer class.