In last year’s Hot 100, Tony Keal was still at Allen & Overy (A&O). How things can change. For the man who helped invent acquisition finance as a legal discipline in the City, 2005 was a year of turmoil.

Keal, who likes the odd scrap, but hates publicity, was at the centre of a storm last year when his email to management about associate pay and conditions was misdirected to the entire firm. But Keal’s intervention put the issue firmly on the agenda - not just for A&O, but the entire City. Associates across the City have reason to be grateful to him.

Keal’s decision to leave for Simpson Thacher was the end of an era at A&O, not least because he took all of KKR’s financing work with him. Never malleable, almost legendary, Keal is a one-off.