Barlow Lyde & Gilbert is believed to have billed around £3m to McDonalds for its work in the marathon libel trial which closed last week with a qualified victory and a huge PR loss for the hamburger chain.

Commercial litigation partner Patti Brinley-Codd, assisted by Robert Hill, led the Barlows team and was present at the trial for 309 of the total 313 days.

McDonalds' costs have been estimated at £10m with between £5m and £7m in external legal costs. A fair proportion of this went on fees for Richard Rampton QC and his junior Timothy Atkinson both at 1 Brick Court.

The defendants Helen Steel and Dave Morris were given help pro bono from barrister Keir Starmer at Doughty Street, Mark Stephens at Stephens Innocent, campaign group Liberty and its pro bono panel, including Richards Butler.