Will the issue never be resolved? As this week's analysis illustrates, more than a decade of intense debate has yet to settle the matter of whether Slaughter and May's boutique model has a place on the global legal stage.

But credit where it's due: the 'best friends' concept has continued to confound critics. While it would be a stretch to say that it has thrived in Europe, it has done enough to keep Slaughters in the game.

There has also been a perceptible shift over the last five years in the attitude of senior lawyers and clients – that amorphous beast dubbed 'the market'. Plenty of doubters remain, but 'the market' has in many cases moved from dismissing the model to dismissing everyone but Slaughters. That's quite an achievement.

The question now is whether the firm can repeat the trick in the key emerging economies, particularly China and India. One thing is for sure – Slaughters can't just deliver a carbon copy of its European best friends model. The local markets are too large, developing too quickly and local firms have less incentive to co-operate given that global rivals are barred from domestic practise.

The hope must be that Slaughters can learn to use the protectionism of these markets to its advantage – but this is far easier said than done. In its favour, it has built a respected Hong Kong practice and, talking to local firms, it is clear Slaughters has done a good job of translating the brand to China, certainly much better than it has managed in India.

This success also illustrates the extent to which the firm's supposedly fixed strategy has shifted with the times. And it's hard to fault the notion of securing and maintaining commanding positions in London and Hong Kong – two of the world's three international finance centres.

It does still seem unclear the extent to which Slaughters is ready to build on Hong Kong as its Asian hub. Slaughters is still keen to badge the practice largely as an extension of its UK practice, but I'm doubtful that the Asian expansion won't – and shouldn't – have an impact on the firm's culture.

The firm is also kidding itself if it thinks it can secure strong referrals without investing in Asia. People are more co-operative with the powerful – that is the essence of best friends. Dig beneath the platitudes and it becomes clear that potential friends in China and India will make decisions about referrals on narrow self-interest, not lofty notions of fair play. The stronger Slaughters is in Asia, the more likely it is to find useful allies.

True, Slaughters has had its share of luck in recent years but it has made plenty of its own fortune, too. Providing that holds out (along with its well-concealed streak of pragmatism), it has a decent shot of confounding its critics for decades to come.