Given that the value of European M&A rose 29% in 2006 according to Mergermarket, bullishness is unsurprisingly pretty widespread among deal lawyers sizing up this year's prospects. A weaker but still solid outlook for corporate earnings and a continuing supply of cheap debt to back up cash-driven acquisitions is obviously still proving a heady mixture 18 months into Europe's M&A revival. Cynics would dub these conditions as bubble-like. But there are also other good fundamentals, with company balance sheets still pretty robust and European share prices remaining relatively cheap, leaving additional room to move for corporate acquirers, if not sponsors. Just as telling is the sober assessment of Slaughter and May's Steve Cooke, one of the City's least hyperbolic M&A practitioners, that 2006 was the "best year since 2000″.

The usual suspects

These conditions have benefited the usual suspects. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has maintained a dazzling pace for more than 12 months while Clifford Chance cleaned up on private equity at home and cross-border M&A on the continent. Slaughters hit form after Easter and typically picked up pace after the summer. Opinion is divided on Linklaters, with some citing a relatively quiet period in its City heartlands. However, one Ashurst partner speaks for many by observing: "They are just so large now, if they look quiet, I just figure Richard Godden is off in India doing some big deal."