Laws And Lawyers

Scorned and ridiculed they may be — but lists of the top 100 in any profession are still compulsive reading. This is the second year of the Times Law 100 — our pick of the most powerful and influential in the law today.

Who is in and who out? There was heated debate among the judges — not least over how to weigh the power of an in-house counsel with a multi-million-pound company in his hands against a lone lawyer creating law at the frontier of human rights. In the end the choice spans all types of work, from academia to the judiciary, and entrants stand on their own merits — we ruled out informal quotas so as to stop too big an entry from one chambers, firm or college.

No surprise, probably, that Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers takes the No 1 slot. Last year Phil Shiner was the Top 10 wild card — this year there’s another, in the shape of Clive Stafford Smith. Lord Pannick, QC, is a second new entry. After feedback, one or two notable omissions last year are in.

On the corporate side, those who make the list are at the helm of firms and corporate legal departments that are holding up in tougher times — and so increasing their influence. The sector will emerge from the recession in a different shape; these people are at the heart of it. Unlike their US counterparts, business lawyers have a lower profile in Britain, as reflected in none making our Top 10. But with lawyers on the front line of bailout-restructuring work and the mass of litigation and regulatory work yet to come, the case next year for including the likes of Charles Randell, from Slaughter and May, could be irresistible.