Birmingham law firms are on a high as never before with fierce competition in their own backyard sharpening the attack on the big commercial firms in London.

No longer is Birmingham solely dominated by the big four -- Wragge & Co, Edge & Ellison, Eversheds and Pinsent Curtis.

Rivals have emerged in the shape of Dibb Lupton Broomhead and an office established by Garrett & Co, which is linked to accountants Arthur Andersen.

Dibbs moved in as the economy began to pick up when it bought the former Needham & James in Birmingham.

It has taken a while to get rolling, but now the firm is getting established.

Experienced lawyers with track records have been signed up and thrusting young guns have been moved in.Garrett & Co took an altogether different approach.

It arrived earlier this year in low key fashion.

There is only a handful of staff, but the first significant deal has been done.

Garrett & Co has major ambitions and it is confident it can build fast.

All this has knocked any cobwebs off the big four.

The merger of the former Birmingham-based Pinsent & Co with Simpson Curtis, of Leeds, earlier this year was meticulously planned and thought through.

The blue-chip Birmingham firm headed by the astute Julian Tonks is hunting hard in London, widening its horizons and adopting a more go-get approach to business.

All the signs are that Pinsent Curtis is on a roll, but where ultimately will the power lie? Currently it is Birmingham, but some believe Leeds could emerge top dog in time.Eversheds has been concentrating on getting its act together nationally, seeking to develop a more cohesive approach across its many offices.It remains a big-hitter in Birmingham but there is some question as to whether it is as focused as it once was.Edge & Ellison has always had a very upfront marketing approach and nothing has changed now it is led by the flamboyant Digby Jones.

The firm has been looking at expanding into other regional cities.

Industry speculation is that Mr Jones is looking seriously at Manchester and Nottingham, with Leeds, Bristol and Cardiff on the backburner.Wragge insists it is intent on remaining firmly independent -- and has rolled the wagons into what it hopes is an impregnable circle secure enough to keep any predatory Indians out.

Its aim is to be the best in Birmingham...and it believes it is.The competition has meant a growing number of leading lawyers moving between the majors.

For example, recently a partner at Pinsent Curtis switched to Wragge, something which would not have happened as little as five years ago.Today the big four are doing far more sophisticated work -- advising on flotations and substantial UK cross-border disposals and acquisitions.

Expertise in specialist areas is now extremely strong.

But who is top dog amongst the big four? It is difficult to tell.

In the most recent assessment in the Legal 500 the former Pinsent & Co emerged as the most rewarding to be a partner in, with average profits of £205,000 per individual, the second highest in the region.

Gross fees rose £2 million to £20.5 million, but that includes the firm's London office.

Had the new Pinsent Curtis, taking in Leeds, been looked at, total turnover would have been £35.6 million, making it the 21st largest grossing firm in the country.Profits per partner at Evershed Wells & Hind were listed at £161,000.

Gross fees for the firm went up from £21.5 million last year to £22.1 million, but that also takes in the Nottingham office, bringing down the Birmingham figure to £16.7 million.Edge & Ellison averaged £149,000 profits per partner and gross fees rose from £19.4 million to £22 million.

But that takes in both London and Leicester offices.Wragge & Co added £2 million to £18.9 million in gross fees but is the only one with no other offices elsewhere.

Profits per partner were £131,000.Birmingham was deemed to be fast catching up on Leeds, and a serious contender for the title of leading regional legal powerhouse.

But that was not how Mike Seabrook, deputy senior partner at Eversheds in Birmingham, saw it.

'Birmingham has never fallen behind Leeds,' he insisted.

'It was just that they got their marketing act together.

It was hype.

W ith Dibb Lupton Broomhead and Garrett & Co coming into Birmingham the four main firms have sharpened up.'Edge & Ellison's Mr Jones added: 'We have always seen ourselves as the alternative to London.' The big four, he said, were pulling away from the Midlands pack and were in the forefront nationally.

'If I were a second-tier London firm I would be seriously worried,' he said.Wragge senior partner John Crabtree said: 'We are competing with everyone to be the best supplier of legal services and we are also competing to be the happiest firm.'Brian Hopkinson, Birmingham managing partner at Pinsent Curtis, said: 'Law firms in Birmingham have benefited from the buoyancy of the regional economy over the last 16 months and the city's growing reputation as a legal centre.' Watch out London -- Birmingham has your measure.VENTURE CAPITAL BOOST TO WORKCorporate activity in the West Midlands area this year has been buoyant, giving Birmingham law firms significant opportunities to raise income over last year.

Manufacturing industry has been spearheading the surge in activity in the region, and although the recovery in the UK car industry, centred around Birmingham, has been slower than expected, it is nonetheless significant.

And the huge quantities of venture capital still waiting to be invested means that if cautious perceptions of the economic climate shift, there could be a further surge in the coming months.However, it is disappointing that legal work on some of the biggest deals is still being lost to London.

For example, the biggest deal this year in and around Birmingham, the £1.95 billion takeover bid by PowerGen for Midlands Electricity, has been exclusively handled out of London.

This is despite PowerGen, the UK's second biggest generator, being based at Coventry and MEB at Halesowen.Freshfields has been acting for PowerGen, and Slaughter & May for MEB.

It was also Freshfields which acted for PowerGen in the £200 million plus sale of two power stations to Eastern Group.

But PowerGen does use Wragge & Co in Birmingham for some commercial work.The region also missed out when BBA group sold its automotive clutches and brake manufacturing division in Leamington for £181.2 million to management, London form MacFarlanes acted for BBA, and Freshfields for TR.But if these were the fish that got away, plenty of others have been caught.

In the £224 million takeover by National Express of bus company West Midlands Travel, the work stayed in Birmingham, with Wragge & Co representing WHT.Edge & Ellison in Birmingham played a major part in the £65.4 million sale of Wolverhampton-based Tarmac's clay brick and clay paver manufacturing business to Ibstock, a deal which had to be approved by UK competition authorities.And at Pinsent Curtis there have been several major projects, including advising on the management buy-in by Steven Mills, former chief executive of Bromsgrove Industries, of the plastics, metals and building products divisions of Newman Tonks group for £28.5 million.Pinsent also acted for West Bromwich Building Society in the acquisition of a portfolio of mortgage loans from AXA Equity & Law valued at £83 million, and for Birmingham films and music group Winchester Multimedia in its admission to the Alternative Investment Market.

This involved a placing and open offer to raise £3 million.David Hughes, head of corporate law at Pinsent Curtis, said: 'The West Midlands venture capital scene is very buoyant at present.

We have been busy all year but especially so since June and there is no sign of a slowdow n.

There is some concern that trading conditions do not appear to be getting any easier, but overall the general availability of funds seems plentiful.

We are optimistic for the rest of the year.'There were similar sentiments from Martineau Johnson, where partner Andrew Stilton said: 'There is plenty of venture capital and other finance chasing a relatively small number of quality deals.

There has been a significant change in the role of the lawyer since the 1980s, we find that we have become far more pro-active in finding and bringing together good quality management teams and but-out and buy-in opportunities.'Among other deals, Martineau Johnson acted for Ash & Lacy in connection with its £19 million recommended bid for CI Group.But it has not just been in the narrower corporate field that law firms have been active; they also play a significant role in the development of Birmingham's and the West Midlands' economic life generally.

For example, influential business lobby group Birmingham City 2000, which has helped raise the profile of the city far and wide, has had lawyers at the forefront since its launch five years ago.City 2000 spokesman David Maxwell said: 'Two chairmen of the group have been lawyers and John James, of Edge & Ellison, is leading our international activities.

Overall, lawyers have played a strong and leading part.'Another Birmingham lawyer, David Birch of Wragge & Co, played a considerable part in helping persuade the government unilaterally to lift the restrictions on US airlines flying into UK regional airports.

The result earlier this summer was that American Airlines became the first US carrier to launch a direct service into Birmingham with a daily non-stop service to Chicago.

It is now considering the possibility of a second service to Miami.

Other US airlines have been looking at the city too, including Continental, and combined with British Airway's daily New York service, the considerable transatlantic trade that comes into and out of Birmingham has been given a major boost.