European law firms are benefiting from a flood of initial public offering (IPO) work as London looks set to surpass New York for a second year running.

Findings from professional services firm Pricewaterhouse-Coopers reveal that in the first three quarters of this year London's main market has already raised 15.2bn (£10.2bn), compared with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), which has raised €12.8bn (£8.65m).

The findings come as the UK Government looks set to protect home markets by rushing through laws to ensure that a possible takeover of the London Stock Exchange by Nasdaq will not lead to the US' Sarbanes-Oxley Act being exported to the UK.

Since the introduction of Sarbanes-Oxley in the US, New York has been steadily losing its reputation as the world's top financial centre with growing numbers of overseas and US companies choosing to list in London. Recent examples include the upcoming $1.5bn (£822m) IPO of Russian steel group Severstal, which has generated a lead role for Fresh-fields Bruckhaus Deringer, and the £5.5bn Rosneft IPO in May, which saw Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton acting.

Nick Eastwell, head of capital markets at Linklaters, told Legal Week: " Sarbanes-Oxley has had a positive effect on our business. The IPO market has been buoyant anyway, but the amount of business going to New York has dropped mark-edly as we have seen a increase in foreign companies that would previously have listed in New York coming to London."

Shearman & Sterling UK corporate partner Peter King added: "People want to protect against US-style legislation, as it would be a big disadvantage to London. "