The knives have been out for Addleshaw Booth & Co in the streets of Manchester.
It seems that the firm's confident, some might say arrogant, self-image has been grating on the nerves of a number of Manchester lawyers. "Paul Lee is like that Bond villain in On Her Majesty's Secret Service," was one Mancunian lawyer's take on the Addleshaws' senior partner.
"Each night when all the Addleshaws people go to bed he plays them a hypnotic tape saying 'you are the best, you are the best, there is clear blue water between you and everyone else, do as I say, you are the best.'."