A respected silk, Nicholas Stadlen QC has always had a solid sort of practice. Last year, however, saw him burst into the public eye with the extraordinary events of the BCCI case.

Stadlen, acting for the Bank of England, was given the daunting task of following up the record 80-day opening speech made by Essex Court Chambers’ Gordon Pollock QC for the liquidators of BCCI. He delivered in style, speaking for 119 days to address every point Pollock had made in an address described by Mr Justice Tomlinson as a "tour de force".

Now free from the shackles of one of the longest-running cases ever seen in an English courtroom, Stadlen can start to capitalise on his reputation. The diary is unlikely to stay empty for long; Stadlen is a silk destined to be the next big thing.