IN the blue blood world of corporate legal advice, competition has never been fiercer, as rival firms seek clients planning "the big deal".

So one up to Arthur Cox, which, according to a survey in Finance magazine, was the leading legal adviser in the world of corporate deal-making, based both on the value of firms acquired and on the number of deals involved. It advised on 37 deals valued at a total of £1.5 billion. McCann Fitzgerald was second, with £1.07 billion in 17 deals.