Texan attorney Mark Lanier has been renowned for several years as a star claimants’ lawyer, and he has just enjoyed an outstanding 12 months.

At the beginning of 2005, Lanier brokered a $5.5m (£3m) settlement between Clifford Chance and his clients, former partners of Brobeck Phleger & Harrison, who alleged that Clifford Chance was responsible for Brobeck’s collapse.

In August, Lanier made global headlines with his stupendous victory against pharmaceutical giant Merck. He was acting for the widow of a man who suffered a heart attack after taking rheumatoid arthritis drug Vioxx. A Texas jury awarded her $253m (£138.4m) in damages and the case paved the way for hundreds of other claims to be filed.

The year ended with the launch of Lanier’s New York office, a move intended to see his firm branch out from its southern heartland. Expect to see it boom over the next few years.