Big name partner hires, mergers and office openings are among the breaking news stories Legal Week has brought to you over the last 12 months.

But we have also published a host of features and analysis covering everything from individual law firms to data analysis. Here are the 10 best read analytical articles published on Legal Week in 2014.

1) Stars at the Bar 2014 covered the up-and-coming barristers making their mark at the commercial Bar.

2) Addleshaw Goddard has not had the easiest year, with high profile exits mounting earlier in 2014 the firm was under pressure to deliver a convincing strategy.

The jury is still out on whether the efforts announced earlier this month – including plans to bring the top of its lockstep up to £1m a year by 2019 – will achieve that.

3) Kirkland & Ellis' May hire of Weil Gotshal & Manges banking star Stephen Lucas was the latest in a string of high profile hires by the Chicago firm in London, here we asked how and at what cost do they achieve them?

Even before Lucas' departure we looked at whether Weil's 2013 partner exodus was a sign trouble was brewing in London.

4) LLP accounts mean firms have little room to hide when it comes to finances. A very deep dive through the 2012-13 LLP accounts of the UK's 50 largest law firms was one of the most clicked articles of the year.

5) Magic circle associate salary hikes reflect return to boom times but US threat remains was similarly a well-read piece, as are all pieces that concern junior lawyers' pay.

Other well-read articles included:

6) Space invaders – the big four accountancy firms look to muscle in on law firm territory 

7) The Oxbridge conveyer belt – a progress report on law firms' efforts to widen the graduate recruitment pool

8) Global top 50 – the battle for elite status

9) Taking London – the US firms swooping in on the City's top talent

10) Crunch time – how is Hogan Lovells faring five years after its groundbreaking transatlantic merger?