When you ask people about Joel Harrison, the phrase 'frighteningly brilliant' often crops up. 'Healthy ego' is another, but the lawyer can certainly justify it.

An IT consultant at just 16, the lawyer of two years' post-qualification experience (PQE) is already making waves as an associate in Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy's outsourcing team. Harrison joined the US firm from Clifford Chance along with senior associate Sean Keaton in 2004. He combines a deep technical understanding of his market with an extreme maturity in his legal analysis.

Colleagues can only watch in wonder as he discusses the finer technical points with a group of engineers. He is considered to be among the few lawyers in the City with this level of expertise.

If that were not enough, he also has a detailed knowledge of the financial regulatory regime and has already enjoyed a six-month secondment to the Financial Services Authority.