Top partners at the country’s five most prestigious law firms have shared in a £2.2 billion pay jackpot, according to new research, as Freshfields and Linklaters unveiled contrasting annual results today.

Fewer than one-tenth of senior lawyers are women, putting paid to claims that the profession is one of the City's most equal industries.

A new legal giant emerges today as London-based Herbert Smith and Australian group Freehills start formally trading under the same banner.

A key email which cast significant doubt on James Murdoch’s repeated assertions that he was never told about the true extent of phone hacking at the News of the World was kept from public disclosure last year while the media heir faced a shareholder revolt over his leadership of BSkyB.

News International hopes to settle claims - but lawyer says more victims emerge every day

Aren't they the acceptable face of private equity?

Christian Louboutin's vertiginous designs have been spotted on the feet of Oprah Winfrey, Carla Bruni, Renée Zellweger and Beyoncé Knowles. How do we know? Because whenever a starlet takes a step, she reveals a trademark flash of scarlet lacquer on the sole of her shoes.

David Cameron yesterday issued his toughest warning yet that Britain's banks will face a further tax hike if they keep paying out huge bonuses, as regulators unveiled new rules aimed at curbing risk-taking and excess.

EU regulators could follow in the footsteps of their US counterparts after the European Commission published plans to curb speculation in the trading of key commodities follow sharp spikes in food and energy prices in 2008.

Despite the recession causing a fall in the combined billing fees of the UK's 100 biggest law firms for the first time in nearly 20 years, top lawyers are earning more than ever.

Europe's highest court ruled Google did not infringe trademark law by selling keywords to trigger ads after Louis Vuitton and others said the practice undermined their brands.

Now it has been revealed that Linklaters provided the advice that allowed Lehman Brothers to use a highly controversial accounting technique to conceal as much as $50bn (£33bn) in debt – all perfectly legal, to be fair – perhaps it might want to remove the page of associate Matthew Honeyben from the recruitment section of its website. In it he waxes lyrical about his work on the administration of, erm, Lehman Brothers.