In the past few years, the number of public limited companies in Yorkshire has declined from 130 to 90.

This fact has not escaped any of the top-six corporate law firms in Leeds -- Addleshaw Booth & Co, DLA, Hammond Suddards Edge, Eversheds, Pinsent Curtis and Walker Morris -- though they seem sanguine about the effects.Ian Greenfield, head of corporate at Hammond Suddards Edge in Leeds, says: 'Yorkshire -- the traditional heart of textile, engineering and heavy manufacturing industry -- has found itself in the heat of the battle between the so-called new and old economy companies.'Alastair Da Costa, head of corporate at DLA's Leeds office, says the situation has spurred Leeds to be more involved in new hi-tech industry.

He says: 'We are co-operating in Leeds over ways to promote and make these[e-commerce] transactions more attractive.

There has always been entrepreneurial skill here, which just needs to be tapped.'Already the textile companies upon which Leeds' wealth was based are jostling with call centres and distribution and financial services for prominence in the city.Mr Greenfield says that, despite the decline of public companies in Yorkshire, 'the business of these companies remains in the region under new and revitalised ownership'.Sean Lippell, head of the corporate department at Addleshaws, says the firm has never been busier: 'We've doubled our department's profits in one year.'Peter Smart, formerly the senior partner of Walker Morris -- the only member of Leeds' top six firms that does not have offices outside the city -- says the decline in public companies is purely a cyclical problem.He says: 'As firms get bigger, especially in the financial services sector (in which Leeds has many companies), they can become enormous, which then leads to them splitting off into niche practices; then the whole thing comes round full-circle as those niche firms grow.'Last July, DLA moved into gleaming new offices next to the city station.

It has been a good year at DLA, according to Mr Da Costa.

'In 1999 we did no floats, in 2000 so far we've done two and we've four in the pipeline.'He says the firm is carrying out more Internet-based deals and sending the message that 'they don't need to go to London, and they can get their work done in a more cost-effective manner here'.

He adds: 'There's a certain type and size of deal where there's undoubtedly a pressure for it to be based in London.

Sometimes there are real justifications for this, but there is a lot of work that we could do that does not need to be based in London.'He acknowledges that 'it can be hard to break down the barriers'.

Sponsor banks in the City of London frequently influence the lawyers used on deals involving companies with a market capitalisation of over £500 million, he concedes.Mr Greenfield confirms that for the larger regional public companies, if they are involved in a hostile takeover there is still a tendency to 'bring in the big boys' from the magic circle in London.

However, the Internet companies flourishing in Leeds have given the city's lawyers the opportunity to represent them on some big ticket deals, such as the £250 million all share offer for Sports Internet plc, advised by Hammonds, made by BSkyB in June 2000.One pressure that is acknowledged by everyone is recruitment.

According to Mr Greenfield, the problem of salary increases by US firms is only one of the difficulties faced by practices such as his in finding suitable staff.

It is also, he maintains, a cyclical problem.

'The recession at the beginning of the nineties led to a fall-off of lawyers qualifying who now have four or five years' experience.

The market is tight for all firms at this level.' There is also, he says, the problem of dot-com companies taking staff: 'We've lost three senior individuals in the last few months.'Although many of the staff at DLA's Leeds office are recruited from London, Mr Da Costa says it is surprising how many of them have some reason to move there as a result of some connection with the region.

Leeds University is a big feeder for the firm also, he says.

Apart from offices to rival those in London, and the advantage of being ten minutes away from countryside, Mr Da Costa says assistants in Leeds are given more involvement in strategic and marketing opportunities.

'We try to involve people in the business plan,' he says.Mr Da Costa says Europe and overseas legal markets present a significant strategic issue for all firms.

'At DLA we've taken the decision that we need more than just "best friend" firms on the continent; we need offices.

Our clients are moving into the European markets more and more, and there are increasing opportunities for management buy-outs in Germany and France.'Walkers' Mr Smart says 'Leeds' ability to sustain at least six major law firms is dependent not only on their ability to get local and regional clients, but also clients from overseas.

We have done a significant amount of work for firms like Great Lakes Chemical Corporation, based in Indianapolis in the US.'Mr Lippell is currently acting for Parkland -- a Nottinghamshire manufacturer of dyes -- in relation to a proposed buy-out of the company by Italian firm Autofil.

This type of deal exemplifies the opportunities in Leeds for direct involvement in continental business which by-passes London.However, Hammonds' Mr Greenfield acknowledges that attracting business direct from the US into the city is difficult: 'If you go to the states, people haven't heard of Leeds; there's still this concept that London is the UK.'Leeds presents a good microcosm for the debate raging throughout the country between those firms which are going with the global flow towards merger and cross-border alliances, and those remaining icily indifferent to the scramble for size.The problem with the debate about whether firms should merge and grow bigger or remain, like Walker Morris, steadfastly independent is one to which 'there just isn't a right answer', according to Mr Greenfield.

However, he says: 'A strategy of being national and aiming to become international will ultimately be successful.''Walker Morris is not pursuing a flawed strategy,' according to Mr Lippell.

'Although there may be a limit to the client base the firm can establish, there is no reason why they should not remain a profitable enterprise -- they are well-managed and have a clear idea what they are about.'Mr Da Costa says Walker Morris is 'still a considerable force in the region'; however, he is circumspect about its refusal to expand: 'With the increasing significance of Europe it is going to be important -- if you want to stay ahead of the game -- to have international networks.' He says it will be harder and harder, in this environment, for Walker Morris to keep the type of big ticket work that has established its reputation.'There's a herd instinct,' according to Walkers' Mr Smart, 'especially when things are up in the air.'He says nothing has happened to shake Walker Morris from its resolve that it does not need to expand and gain offices in other territories.

'There's always a knee-jerk reaction when there's a trend.' The disadvantage of being part of a larger group, according to Mr Smart, is that 'you become a cog in a big wheel'.He adds: 'The great advantage to being in one place is that you know all the other partners -- there's a common approach.'Mr Smart also questions the tactics of the expansionists: 'If a firm based in Leeds has offices all over the world, in capitals and cities as far afield as Singapore, there will come a time when the managing partners of that firm will ask themselves: 'What the hell are we doing in Leeds or Bradford?'In any case, says Mr Smart, modern technology is 'diminishing the geographical limits that traditionally restrict clientele'.Stephen Hopkins, head of corporate at Eversheds, Leeds, believes there is a future for a purely Leeds-based firm with regional corporate clients.

However, he says that the likely problem ahead for a firm with this strategy is recruitment.

In ten years, the younger lawyers will want to be involved with global firms doing cross-border transactions.GLITTERING PRIZES -- ALMOST 2,000 LAWYERS NOW WORK IN LEEDSYorkshire lawyers are trying hard to feel good about themselves.

Not content with working in arguably the UK's second legal city, they are now handing out Yorkshire lawyer of the year awards.The inaugural awards, presented late last month, saw football solicitor Peter McCormick take the main prize, as well as the best general practice honour (see [2000] Gazette, 5 October, 9).Mr McCormick built his Leeds practice from scratch and has taken it to its current position -- the firm was rated as the top Yorkshire media and entertainment firm in the latest Chambers Directory.But Mr McCormick's reputation comes not only from his legal expertise.

For the past 15 years he has put much of his energy into charitable works, for which he was awarded the OBE this year.He recently raised £540,000 for the construction of the MacMillan Cancer Treatment Unit at Harrogate District Hospital.

Asked at the awards ceremony where he found his energy, he replied: I just can't say no.

And I believe that everyone who has been given a brain and the chance to earn some money has a duty to put something back.'The award is made in association with the Leeds Law Society, and its office holders suggest that the sentiment of participation expressed by Mr McCormick could be more widely held in the city.'When I was articled in Leeds in the 1970s and subsequently joined the Law Society here, one knew almost all the other solicitors in the town; this was a close-knit community of lawyers,' says Steven Wood, immediate past president of the Leeds Law Society.The major change, he says, has been caused by the massive expansion of the larger Leeds firms in which many arrivals on the legal scene 'do not have a strong affinity with the city'.

In the 1970s Leeds contained around 400 lawyers; today the figure has spiralled to almost 2,000 practising at around 150 law firms.

He says: 'The larger firms have so many resources and it's difficult to know what services the local society can offer to them.'However, he believes this is dangerous, because it has led to a situation in which many larger firms doubt whether the society can be of benefit to them: 'It is very important, in order to have influence over government regulation in order to co-ordinate the profession's wider messages, that there is input from across the spectrum,' says Mr Wood.The burgeoning market for commercial work has a deleterious effect on legal aid lawyers in the city -- forcing their precious overheads up because of the rates for secretarial and rental take their cue from the commercial lawyers.But Jeremy Shulman, chairman of Shulmans, an eight-partner commercial firm and vice-president of Leeds Law Society, says the medium-sized firms owe a great deal to the larger firms for firmly 'putting Leeds on the map'.

He stresses that the firms also play an important role in the cultural life of the city; being major contributors to renowned institutions such as Opera North and the West Yorkshire Playhouse.Although both Mr Wood and Mr Shulman say the extention of the M1 from Hull to the noth-east has given the city an enhanced status as a centre of regional distribution, Mr Shulman says the limitations of Leeds Bradford airport act as an inhibiting factor on the future international growth of the city.The airport services the main European centres such as Amsterdam, Paris and Brussels, but not the vital financial centres such as Frankfurt Milan and Zurich.Between the firms of Shulmans' size and the big six there are other mid-ranking players such as Lupton-Fawcett -- with 21 partners.

Insolvency partner Richard Marshall says the firm's success is predicated on a highly successful strategy of integrating commercial and personal services.

He believes that, with Yorkshire's plc base being 'sucked into the membership of companies in the London to Paris to Frankfurt triangle' the mid-level work is a rich vein.He says the trend for Yorkshire's public companies to divest back into private hands means there is an increase in this market.

Like other Leeds lawyers, Mr Marshall says there are difficulties in recruiting.

However, he maintains that Lupton Fawcett -- 'not being focused on mega plc' -- is able to take advantage of lawyers' 'desire to have control of their own destinies'.

He says that some large firms are ruled by greed and fear.

'It becomes difficult for many of their partners to have an input in the firm, let alone more junior members.'Mr Marshall says the firm is also keeping abreast of the new technology clients.

'We can see the tidal wave coming, and we're looking for the surfboard.

In ten years' time there'll be two types of lawyers: one with a real e-commerce platform, sat on a South Sea Island, drinking cocktails; the other without e-commerce, will be serving the drinks.