Linklaters had also been open with JPMorgan's legal team about the litigation at the time of the takeover. Initially, Linklaters had the impression that JPMorgan was taking a pragmatic stance; it is widely accepted that Linklaters' position, while commercially awkward, was not a legal conflict. But apparently, when the bank's executive team became aware of the issue, they took a rather less charitable view. Hence Linklaters being asked to stand down. Given US bar rules and its client commitments to Barclays, that gave Link-laters little option but to regretfully tough it out and see itself, temporarily at least, frozen out by one of its top banking clients.

To drive home the point, JPMorgan general counsel Stephen Cutler is believed to have sent round a strongly-worded email stating that Linklaters was not to be instructed under any circumstances until further notice.

While partners are trying to remain philosophical, there is no denying they feel hard done by. But there is also widespread support for senior partner David Cheyne's handling of the affair, which is seen as striking the right note of pragmatism with backbone.

But all the sympathy in the world will be little consolation to Linklaters as the firm comes to terms with losing a client estimated by one rival to be worth in the region of £20m annually.

While JPMorgan uses a range of law firms, Linklaters is its most regular adviser outside the US. The London finance team has built a strong relationship with the bank and, though Gideon Moore has the closest ties, the work feeds the rest of the leveraged finance team, including Nick Syson, Adam Freeman and Stephen Lucas. JPMorgan's securities division has also been a regular client to Linklaters' international offices, where the firm has handled several big-ticket capital market instructions.

It is obviously a bitter blow for a leveraged finance team already wrestling with the pronounced slowdown in Europe's buy-out market. Set against this, Linklaters can rely on a good spread of quality clients, among them Citi, Royal Bank of Scotland, Merrill Lynch and Barclays, and a finance team that has proved energetic and consistently upwardly-mobile in recent years.

A further ray of sunshine for Linklaters is a feeling that the relationship with JPMorgan is too developed to be severed for a long period of time. So, where previous litigation-related rows such as Freshfields being blackballed by Citi and Slaughter and May falling foul of Merrill Lynch have typically led to long spells in the wilderness, there is a general expectation that Linklaters is instead in for a short, sharp shock. After all, it is very disruptive for a major bank to pull the plug on a primary adviser, especially in the City where, unlike in New York, heavyweight finance work is dominated by just a handful of firms.

All in, the neutral observer might wonder what JPMorgan's fit of pique has achieved, aside from generating the aforementioned sympathy for Linklaters and delivering a massive boost to the swelling band of litigation specialists angling to secure post-crunch claims against banks.

Linklaters had also been open with JPMorgan's legal team about the litigation at the time of the takeover. Initially, Linklaters had the impression that JPMorgan was taking a pragmatic stance; it is widely accepted that Linklaters' position, while commercially awkward, was not a legal conflict. But apparently, when the bank's executive team became aware of the issue, they took a rather less charitable view. Hence Linklaters being asked to stand down. Given US bar rules and its client commitments to Barclays, that gave Link-laters little option but to regretfully tough it out and see itself, temporarily at least, frozen out by one of its top banking clients.

To drive home the point, JPMorgan general counsel Stephen Cutler is believed to have sent round a strongly-worded email stating that Linklaters was not to be instructed under any circumstances until further notice.

While partners are trying to remain philosophical, there is no denying they feel hard done by. But there is also widespread support for senior partner David Cheyne's handling of the affair, which is seen as striking the right note of pragmatism with backbone.

But all the sympathy in the world will be little consolation to Linklaters as the firm comes to terms with losing a client estimated by one rival to be worth in the region of £20m annually.

While JPMorgan uses a range of law firms, Linklaters is its most regular adviser outside the US. The London finance team has built a strong relationship with the bank and, though Gideon Moore has the closest ties, the work feeds the rest of the leveraged finance team, including Nick Syson, Adam Freeman and Stephen Lucas. JPMorgan's securities division has also been a regular client to Linklaters' international offices, where the firm has handled several big-ticket capital market instructions.

It is obviously a bitter blow for a leveraged finance team already wrestling with the pronounced slowdown in Europe's buy-out market. Set against this, Linklaters can rely on a good spread of quality clients, among them Citi, Royal Bank of Scotland, Merrill Lynch and Barclays, and a finance team that has proved energetic and consistently upwardly-mobile in recent years.

A further ray of sunshine for Linklaters is a feeling that the relationship with JPMorgan is too developed to be severed for a long period of time. So, where previous litigation-related rows such as Freshfields being blackballed by Citi and Slaughter and May falling foul of Merrill Lynch have typically led to long spells in the wilderness, there is a general expectation that Linklaters is instead in for a short, sharp shock. After all, it is very disruptive for a major bank to pull the plug on a primary adviser, especially in the City where, unlike in New York, heavyweight finance work is dominated by just a handful of firms.

All in, the neutral observer might wonder what JPMorgan's fit of pique has achieved, aside from generating the aforementioned sympathy for Linklaters and delivering a massive boost to the swelling band of litigation specialists angling to secure post-crunch claims against banks.