If you think of Liverpool and immediately hear the strains of Strawberry Fields Forever, or see images of ferries crossing the Mersey, Brookside Close and the Toxteth riots, then think again.

The 'Cinderella' city looks like it is about to go to the ball.After a slow start, Liverpool is beginning to catch up with the boom experienced elsewhere in the country.

Cranes are dotted across its skyline as the city centre, woefully neglected for years, is being redeveloped.

The old docks now house pubs, clubs and bars, not to mention a host of accommodation ideally suited to young professionals who want to walk to work, and stagger home from the pub.These days, around 26,000 companies operate on Merseyside; its port, one of the largest container ports in Europe, deals with £5 million of goods every week; its airport is the fastest growing in Europe; 19 million tourists visit each year; and 70% of Japanese computer games are produced within 30 miles of Liverpool.Mike Prince, DLA's Liverpool managing partner, says when he moved to the area in 1986, things were difficult.

'The boom of the 1980s had just started to hit Liverpool, we had a lot of management buy-out activity when the downturn of the 1990s came, it hit us just like that'.But Liverpool Law Society president Edward Goldsmith says even the hard times had their silver-lining for firms.

'There has not been the same amount of money around in the city as elsewhere, or the same amount of commercial activity, so firms have had to think more laterally about practice areas.' As a result: 'We tend to have a little more initiative than our sleepy friends in the south,' he adds.The fact that Liverpool may have turned the corner is, oddly, partly because of the lack of investment it has suffered from in the past.In 1999, it qualified for European Union objective one money: funds made available to areas where the gross domestic product is less than 75% of the EU average.The first round of money went mainly towards improving the area's infrastructure.

Having failed to raise its GDP sufficiently, the city qualified for a second tranche of money last year.And as the city begins to flourish, so do the law firms although they are limited in number.Recently-rebranded Brabners' (formerly Brabner Holden Banks Wilson) senior partner, Michael Brabner, says having missed the boom, practices haven't developed into the commercial firms seen elsewhere'.

However the 'compensating factor' is that, based on supply and demand, there are only three to five firms in the commercial market.Although DLA and Davies Wallis Foyster (DWF) have traditionally led the field in the commercial arena, they admit Brabners is now snapping at their heels.

Having benefited from the defection of Berrymans Lace Mawer's commercial team last year, all the major players now see themselves as competition.Although few would argue with the fact that historically DLA has occupied the number one slot in the city, Mr Brabner says his firm's aim is to take that mantle.

'We can't compete as a national firm, but we can compete as the best number one local firm.'Mr Prince says, as the only truly national firm in the city, DLA is a 'completely different animal' from the others.

He sees its main competition for work coming from the big Manchester firms and sometimes from London.

But he points out that there is still work done by other Liverpool firms that it would like to do.With a disproportionately high number of firms in the city doing top-end insurance work, Hill Dickinson has also developed strength in private client, commercial and commercial property and defendant health work.Weightmans and Berrymans are still predominantly insurance litigation practices.David Lewis, managing partner designate of Weightmans says after a difficult time for insurance practices things are now beginning to ease.

For those firms which have survived the shake-up, they are now benefiting from a bigger share of the work, he says.Last year, the ongoing rumours of a merger between Hill Dickinson and Weightmans were finally put to rest, when the firms announced that possibilities of a merger were finally off.Having undergone a major internal restructure, Weightmans decided to consolidate but is now considering 'which is the right way to go'.David Wareing, managing partner of Hill Dickinson, says although both firms would have gained geographical spread from the merger, with the upheaval in the insurance market becoming a 'mega-insurance firm' could have been a problem.

However, refusing to put the merger rumour to bed, he admits that the firm 'is still looking at ways to expand specialist areas and how it can achieve that elsewhere'.Brabners, Hill Dickinson and DWF have also retained private client departments when many commercial firms decided to dump them.

Hill Dickinson is one of Camelot's preferred advisers for those who win more than £10 million on the Lottery.Cuff Roberts and Mace & Jones are still recognised as good commercial-based firms but are now trailing slightly in expansion.

Niche firm Bullivant Jones & Co is still highly-rated in the city.Like other provincial practices, Liverpool firms say they can compete better for work because of their lower overheads.

As London rental prices hit anywhere £40 to £90 per square foot, Liverpool has, for the first time, hit an all-time rental cost high of £15 for a new waterfront office block.

City centre rentals of £10-£12 per square foot are more common.Salaries for solicitors are also lower, even than those paid by rival city Manchester only 30 miles down the road.

While newly-qualified solicitors in Liverpool can expect to earn around £25,000, those in Manchester can expect to do better earning around £30,000.Mr Lewis says: 'I think [Liverpool firms] can provide a slightly different service, the same level of technical expertise at lower prices and because of that I think there will be a drift away from Manchester and Birmingham for commercial work because their overheads are higher but the service isn't any better.'Mark O'Connor, DWF's managing partner, says Liverpool, like other regions, has a 'real upgrade' in the quality of work over the last five to ten years.

'Maybe one of the saddest reasons is that there has been so much work in London over the past three to four years, that they just don't need the kind of work that in the late 80s and early 90s they were scrabbling for.'He adds: 'The quality of work done by ourselves, DLA and Brabners, is extremely high, and I could reel off ten firms in Manchester, Leeds or Birmingham which are the same.

I think now we are of the same quality as London but not at London prices.'Even though wages may be lower, Mr Wareing says it is 'short-termism' for people to leave the city.

Although he understands that with debts looming over young solicitors, they might be lured by big money offered elsewhere he thinks they will be 'arms and legs' for firms dealing with a boom in work.

He says the long-term future offered by Liverpool firms is probably better.Mr O'Connor maintains that being a 'big fish in a small pond' does have its advantages for young lawyers.

'If someone is good, they will be good whether they are in London or Liverpool.

If you are in Liverpool, you will rise through the ranks more quickly, and be noticed more quickly.

You will have control over how you develop your practice.

If you are a five-year-qualified lawyer at Clifford Chance, you won't have that control,' he says.

But Liverpool does not just revolve around commercial firms.

Mr Goldsmith, who says problems have been the 'mother of invention' for firms, cites his own firm, Goldsmith Williams, Lees Lloyd Whitley and Scott Rees as practices that are making direct conveyancing work.There are also a number of smaller high-profile firms.

E Rex Makin & Co and Goodmans have been involved in the Alder Hey organs case, and the former is representing Ralph Bulger -- the father of murdered toddler James Bulger -- and former assistant chief constable of Merseyside, Alison Halford, in cases at the European Court of Justice.Robert Broudie, senior partner at crime firm M Broudie & Co, has recently hit the headlines for judicially reviewing the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, over restrictions on recovery of costs by acquitted defendants and for breaches of the Human Rights Act 1998.

In the family arena, Helen Broughton of Morecroft Urquhart recently pulled off a coup in acting for Tranda Wecker, birth mother of the Internet adoption twins.Mr Broudie describes Liverpool as 'fantastic'.

As a city with a low cost of living, great parks, good restaurants and bars and little congestion on the roads, he says he 'doesn't want it spoiled by good publicity'.