Stephen Pollard is now almost as famous as his client, Nick Leeson.

Ever since the hunt for the missing futures trader ended with Mr Leeson's arrest at Frankfurt airport in March, the lawyer has rarely been out of the public gaze.In many ways, the Kingsley Napley solicitor, who speaks fluent German and has considerable experience in cases involving the futures market regulatory authority, was the perfect choice.

Last week the Serious Fraud Office decided not to seek Mr Leeson's extradition to this country clearing the way for a trial in Singapore where, if found guilty, he could spend 14 years in prison.Mr Pollard, 37, believes the SFO and the City would prefer his client to face the music in Singapore rather than suffer the embarrassment of a trial in this country where everything would come out.

'It is much easier to say a rogue trader, one-off accident, cannot happen again, systems in place, everything is fine,' says Mr Pollard.

He also points to the strong trade links between Britain and Singapore as reasons not to want to upset a country sensitive about its right to try people who commit crimes within its borders.

Mr Pollard, who has not been to Singapore, has heard that the local authorities have taken it all rather 'personally'.

He says they feel the integrity of their stock exchange has been damaged.But he will not make racist criticisms of the Singaporean criminal justice system.

'What I am not going to do is gratify the media who want me to say something stupid about it being unnecessarily unfair.'Although Mr Pollard concedes the SFO decision is a 'set back', he has by no means thrown in the towel.

'We have always had a two-pronged attack, working to defeat the extradition request from Germany (to Singapore) and trying to get the SFO to make its own request here.'He says he still has one or two 'alternatives up my sleeve' to enable an extradition to Britain where Mr Leeson would plead guilty to charges of false accounting and obtaining property by deception.

He says these charges properly reflect the total criminality of events leading to the £830 million collapse of Barings.'I am baffled', says Mr Pollard, 'as to the SFO's legal reasons for refusing to seek extradition.

They seem to accept they have jurisdiction and with the taped confessions they now have evidence.'Mr Pollard says London is the most appropriate place for sentencing because the crime has been committed against a London bank governed by London regulators.

'It is nonsense for anyone to suggest that the Singapore offences go to the heart of his actions' effect on the collapse of the bank.'Last week, SFO officials also refused to meet Mr Pollard to offer an explanation of their reasoning, leading him to the conclusion that the decision must be one of policy.

Meanwhile, the final written pleadings before the German court must be submitted before 25 September.

Mr Pollard hopes to be able to show that the 12 Singapore offences do not show a prima facie case.But the legal battle is only half the story.

Mr Pollard has received much praise for the way he has masterminded and almost single handedly run an effective public relations campaign.

Through adept use o f the media, Mr Pollard has managed to transform the Leeson image.When Mr Leeson first went missing the press portrayed an 'estuary lager lout' whose high rolling lifestyle had contributed to his and the bank's ultimate downfall.

Even Mr Pollard was taken in.

'When I first went to see him in Germany I went not really relishing the prospect of meeting this lager lout.

But I was delighted to meet a man who bore no resemblance to this at all.'Mr Pollard describes his client as having a 'dry sense of humour [and someone] who has always been very open'.

As for his lifestyle, Mr Pollard paints a picture of a man who, although on a high salary, was happiest having friends round to his flat for bangers and mash and watching football on the television.

Mr Pollard called two press conferences which immediately led to more accurate press coverage.

But, following the interview with Sir David Frost last week, Mr Pollard was quick to mount a damage limitation press conference.

The general feeling was that Mr Leeson had come across as not showing any remorse and as being unable to substantiate some of the conspiracy theories.Mr Pollard explains: 'There were large gaps in the programme.

And my concerns were that people did not think that Mr Leeson did not want to tell the whole story.'Nevertheless, without specific allegations against Barings management, interest in trying Leeson over here has waned.

Mr Pollard accepts that the 'most exciting' outcome for everybody would have been if the Barings management had been involved in an extensive cover-up in order to make huge profits.'There was nothing like that.

Life is seldom as exciting as people would ideally like,' he says, adding, 'It is still a seriously important story that the senior management of a bank could be so completely incompetent as to trade twice the bank's capital.'General media interest in the Leeson case continues to flourish.

Mr Pollard deals with about 15 calls from journalists a day.'I make a point of returning all calls myself,' says Mr Pollard, who became a father for the second time just after starting the case.

He has had some previous experience of media pressure when he represented Rosemary Aberdour, who duped charities by falsely calling herself Lady Aberdour.But he has never had to deal with the sort of publicity stunt the Leeson case has generated.

A neo-punk group calling themselves the Bollock Brothers released a version of the song My Way, which they claimed Mr Leeson had recorded during a telephone call from prison.'This was not true at all,' maintains Mr Pollard.

'If he did have access to the telephone the last people he would speak to are the Bollock Brothers.' The German company involved has now been injuncted.

But one question still hangs over the case.

Since legal aid is not available, who is paying for Mr Leeson's legal representation? Kingsley Napley has received some funds from Mr and Mrs Leeson, as well as contributions from friends.

But, Mr Pollard says, there is a chance that most of the legal bill will not be paid.

'It is not something you can do too regularly or you will go bust.

We are standing by Nick Leeson and we hope we will be paid sooner or later.

But at the moment that is not at the top of our priorities.'