Allen & Overy has knocked Linklaters out of second place in the league table for advising the most FTSE 100 clients during the last three months.

It is the latest round in the neck-and-neck tussle the duo have fought for the runner-up position to Slaughter and May for the last two years, in the rankings produced by Adviser Rankings in association with audit and advisory firm Crowe UK.

A&O first claimed outright second place in early 2017, a position held by Linklaters throughout the previous six years, either alone or jointly.

A&O held that position until late 2017 but throughout last year it was back to joint-holders with Linklaters.

The latest figures, covering the three months to February 7, show that A&O has won outright again having picked up a client, taking its total to 26 versus Linklaters' 25, after the latter lost a client during the quarter.

Slaughter & May continues to hold a commanding first place with 35 FTSE 100 client relationships. It lost one client but replaced it with advertising company WPP, which it advised alongside A&O last year when the company's CEO Sir Martin Sorrell faced misconduct allegations.

Freshfields came fourth with 22 and Herbert Smith Freehills came fifth with 15.

Meanwhile, Baker McKenzie and Travers Smith both made it into the top 15 FTSE 100 rankings for the first time, each gaining three relationships apiece.

Slaughters also topped the table for the number of FTSE 250 clients, up by three to 41 while Linklaters came in second place with 34.

Scottish firm Dickson Minto knocked Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer down into fourth position in the FTSE 250 league, landing itself in third place with 24 clients, one more than last year.

In the technology sector, Pinsent Masons pulled ahead of its peers with 10 clients, compared with last year's eight, helped by its appointment to software company IDOX.