For Slaughter and May, 2004-05 was a vintage year. After a sluggish 2003-04, fortunes turned around dramatically at the quintessential blueblood, deal-doing firm, resulting in Slaughters posting its best set of results in years.

Slaughters confirmed its position as the elite domestic practice after average PEP shot up by 28.2 per cent from £819,000 to brake £1m. And with partners at the top of equity taking home around £1.2m each, it is no wonder Slaughters has never lost a single partner to a rival firm.

Meanwhile, turnover at the 130-partner firm leapt by 16.9 per cent, from £248m to £290m.

Much of Slaughters' success rests on the firm's unstoppable corporate practice, which accounts for 51 per cent (£147.9m) of turnover. Deal highlights for the corporate team include defending Marks & Spencer against the takeover bid from entrepreneur Philip Green, a deal that saw the team, led by corporate partners Nigel Boardman and Andy Ryde with help from litigation partner Sarah Lee, orchestrate the downfall (at least in this deal) of Green's firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Meanwhile, Slaughters sat opposite its Spanish best friend Uría & Menéndez and Clifford Chance on the £8.9bn acquisition of Abbey by Spain's Banco Santander Central Hispano.

The firm's other departments also did well, with the competition practice securing a surprise European Commission clearance for the BMG-Sony merger. Meanwhile, Slaughters also played integral roles on the British Energy, Jarvis and MyTravel restructurings.

Slaughters' client base, which includes the likes of BAE Systems, BHP Billton, Cadbury Schweppes, Corus, Legal & General and Unilever, continues to be the envy of its peers.

Indeed, the firm's ability to win and maintain clients was confirmed by The Lawyer in May 2005, when it reported that the firm had more than 50 per cent more FTSE100 clients than nearest rival Linklaters.

Slaughters' commitment to its best friends network was highlighted this year after it decided to shut the doors on its New York and Singapore offices, while it ramped up its relationship with Australian firm Allens Arthur Robinson. The move resulted in two lawyers in the firm's New York office being relocated to London and one Singapore-based partner moving to Hong Kong.

Indeed, Slaughters' best friends strategy, which is in stark contrast with most of its rivals', remains peachy on the Continental front. And concerns over favourite US referral firms building their own domestic corporate practices have not turned into material threats. Yet.