The news that Lovells is overhauling its corporate practice, which was revealed in last week's issue of Legal Week, did not come as a big shock to City lawyers.

The nods of approval it was greeted with from senior partners at rival firms suggest that the need for change was obvious. While Lovells as a whole may be standing its ground against rivals such as Herbert Smith, it has been losing ground in the field of M&A.

According to Mergermarket, Lovells has advised on 265 European M&A deals worth a total of £74.5bn over the past three years. Herbert Smith, on the other hand, has advised on 324 deals worth £183.6bn over the same period. While Lovells points to Herbert Smith's alliances with Gleiss Lutz and Stibbe as skewing the results, it also concedes that the past year has been disappointing.