Gold Trafford with firms at Beck and call of insuranceWhile acting for Manchester United is a dream, Neil Rose finds lawyers are involved in much more It may not be the biggest law firm in Manchester nor, in the main, do the most glamorous work - but James Chapman & Co has the sexiest client in the city.Acting for Manchester United is a marketing dream (more so than the local rival club, Manchester City, which has just taken on Eversheds) and makes a break from the defendant insurance work that accounts for the vast bulk of the firm's practice.

Indeed, by acting for United on the sponsorship deal with Vodafone and, probably, the recent kit deal with Nike (although the details are confidential), James Chapman has been involved in two of the biggest commercial deals Manchester has seen this year.

But insurance is a mainstay of the second tier Manchester firms, with Chapmans, Berrymans Lace Mawer (BLM), Weightmans, Beachcroft Wansbroughs, Hill Dickinson, Davies Arnold Cooper and Keoghs (of nearby Bolton) all among those slugging it out along with top corporate practice DLA.

The introduction of the Civil Procedure Rules last year upset the insurance law market, but Andrew Relton, managing partner of BLM's Manchester office, says that after an major initial dip, case levels have steadied at around 90% of what they were pre-Woolf.

While cases are concluding quicker, he adds, there is more activity on each file than before.BLM has been much in the news in recent months and is a good example of the kind of convulsions insurance law firms have undergone post-Woolf.

Most non-insurance lawyers have left the firm as it retreats into its core business - a group of commercial litigators, for example, left to help form a new firm in the city called Nexus.

However, Mr Relton acknowledges that BLM is losing out with clients who want a one-stop service.

'We need a broader practice and are forging the relationships to do it, but it needs to be on a larger and broader basis than the Berrymans and Lace Mawer merger.

We're not looking to tag on a little commercial department to one of our offices.'What many predict as increasing merger activity by insurance law firms means that in a couple of years' time, there may be fewer than the 212 law firms currently in central Manchester.

All the national firms are there, along with a few City firms, such as Davies Arnold Cooper, Masons (for construction work) and Trowers & Hamlins.

In addition, with firms such as London-based Leigh Day & Co, Donns, and Russell Jones & Walker, as well as Burton Copeland and Tuckers, Manchester boasts some of the leading claimant clinical negligence and criminal law names respectively in the country.

Altrincham, just outside Manchester, is home to Alexander Harris, another top claimant firm.The Manchester office of leading healthcare firm Hempsons had the dubious privilege this year of acting for serial killer Dr Harold Shipman.Beneath the half-dozen or so top corporate practices in Manchester, there is a large gap in size terms to the next group of firms, such as Betesh Fox & Co, Kuit Steinart Levy, Elliotts, Rowe & Cohen and Wacks Caller.

Chaffe Street is held out as a rare example of a highly regarded niche commercial firm.Araba Obodai is a commercial litigation partner at Betesh Fox and president of Manchester Law Society.

She says the city is 'doing very well, there's a real buzz'.

The legal community is equally bouyant, she adds.

'A lot of people who used to use London solicitors are coming to Manchester.' This is a theme taken up by pro.Manchester, a professional forum.

Earlier this year, then chairman Milton Pysden, a partner at Eversheds, launched a campaign to persuade those clients who still go to London to recognise what is under their noses.

'The professional community is the city's largest employer, with over 56,000 people, so there is no need to go to London for advice, particularly on deals,' he said.

Ms Obodai speculates that with spiralling salaries in London being matched by spiralling billing targets, there might be a stream of disaffected solicitors looking to move to somewhere a little more manageable.

'We're all under a lot of pressure [in Manchester] and everyone is stressed, but we don't have bedrooms in the office.'The pride that Ms Obodai says many people increasingly have in Manchester will come to the fore in 2002 when it stages the Commonwealth Games.

Already some of the venues, such as the swimming centre and velodrome, are ready while a rash of building work testifies to efforts to smarten the city up and ensure it can cope with the influx of competitors and spectators.Rodger Pannone, senior partner of local firm Pannone & Partners and a former Law Society President, is chairman of the games.But while many want to get involved in the event in one way or another, says Fran Eccles, Manchester Law Society's administrator, few can afford the sponsorship deal that Addleshaw Booth & Co agreed with the games' organisers in lieu of 1 million of legal fees.

So ProForum, a loose association of professional bodies in the city, has held talks with the organisers to discuss how best smaller firms can play their part, such as letting staff act as drivers or stewards or any number of other roles.

There is a meeting scheduled for next June to start organising this and also warn firms to plan ahead for coping with skeleton staff and unusual working arrangements during the games themselves.It is an event that Ms Eccles herself intends to throw herself into.

'I've volunteered to carry Linford Christie's lunchbox,' she smiles.