Singing a happy ToonNEWCASTLE IS NO LONGER BANKING ON ITS TRADITIONAL IMAGE OF BOOZE AND FOOTBALL.

INSTEAD, AS JEREMY FLEMING DISCOVERS, LAW FIRMS ARE CALLING THE TOON THANKS TO FLOURISHING HI-TECH WORKNewcastle has more to offer than its national image of Brown Ale and the fanatical Toon Army of football followers.

The city's law firms are anxious to promote its more modern image and its business and cultural landscape.

Take the landscape by the quays on the south bank of the River Tyne.

This will be transformed, not only by the new Gateshead Millennium Bridge - due to have its first opening this spring with a second opening for the public this summer - but also the new Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, and the 62 million music centre, due to open in 2003.

And, in a joint bid with Gateshead, Newcastle is bidding for the title of European Capital of Culture 2008.

Of the law firms in Newcastle, Robert Muckle - with 11 partners - is one of a handful of mid-sized firms in Newcastle offering corporate work.

Robert Phillips, a corporate partner, says the listed market is not substantial enough in Newcastle for the firm to target.

But there is a flow of Alternative Investment Market (AIM) listings, and Mr Phillips says that Muckles looks to act for the smaller companies, and then take them to AIM listing.

The technology sector is the fastest growing, but only if this is defined widely, says Mary Anne Macharg, another Muckles partner who specialises in intellectual property (IP).

She explains: 'Start-ups dipped somewhat last year, but we do a lot of business for bricks and mortar companies developing an on-line capability.' Jamie Martin, managing partner of top local firm Ward Hadaway, which has also led much of the work on the growing local Solicitors Property Shop, echoes the sentiment: 'We've seen significant activities in the tech market recently.' But, like Muckles, he confirms that this is not in the dot-com technology sector: 'Our upturn has been in the tech-based industry sector, such as tech-based scientific glass products and hi-tech instrument making.' Newcastle is probably unique among UK cities in having one unrivalled local commercial firm - the 50-partner Dickinson Dees - and one major national player, Eversheds.

This makes the differences between the firms, and the strategic choices facing them, more pronounced.

Dickinsons opened an office in Teesside last September, soon after Eversheds announced that it was closing its office in the area.

Dickinsons has undoubtedly had a good year.

Acting for local transport giant Go-Ahead, the lawyers skilfully helped to deflect a predatory takeover attempt by French rival C3D and are now acting in relation to new rail franchises won by Go-Ahead in the south of England.

In dismissing Newcastle's image of 'Brown Ale bottles and whippets', John Flynn, business development partner at Dickinson Dees, points out: 'There are only about 25 listed companies in the north-east and we act for most of them.'However, Mr Flynn says that Dickinsons - which draws on a powerful agricultural private client base - does not ignore the mid-sized company market.

Eversheds' head of corporate Michael Spriggs counters that his firm also acts for many north- eastern public limited companies (PLCs) and, when the firm is seen as part of a national group, acts for many more PLCs than any other firm in Newcastle.

He compares Eversheds' approach to that of a top five accountancy firm: more recognisable nationally than at a local level.

Eversheds sees its north- eastern strengths as health, higher education, and public projects works.

It is easy to see how a firm with so many other offices can benefit in these areas.

This is exemplified by Eversheds' winning bid for the private finance initiative (PFI) work for Newcastle airport last year.

One of the reasons that the firm is successful in these types of bids is that it can draw on other regional offices' comparable experience, and also the banking clout of its City of London office.

But size is not everything in Newcastle.

Watson Burton, with 19 partners, has managed to consolidate education-based work in the city against the competition from Eversheds: 'We act for the universities of Warwick and Sunderland, as well as Newcastle and Durham colleges,' says senior partner Andrew Hoyle.

Watsons is also competing well in the leisure arena, acting for a number of AIM-listed companies including Lady in Leisure and Ultimate Leisure, which owns a Newcastle nightclub and numerous bars in the north east.

'We've had our second record profits month, coming on the back of 22% income growth during the year 2000,' says Mr Hoyle.

Generally, the legal market in Newcastle seems stable if unexplosive, but is their any concern about the whispers of impending recession in the US, and any domino-effect collapse that might ensue in the UK? Mr Martin sums up an opinion voiced throughout the corporate firms of Newcastle: 'I think this region has learned to live within the industrial cycle.

This is not a boom-and-bust economy, it is a sensibly regional economy, gearing towards hi-tech, leisure and computer projects.'Stephen McNicol, another Muckles partner, says the insolvency market is flat at the moment, though there is an upturn in refinancing work.

Dickinsons' John Flynn says: 'The north-east doesn't get yanked about on the tail-end of recession like London and other cities.' Nonetheless, to gear up in preparation for a downturn in the economy, Mr Flynn points out that his firm is expanding its public sector work, 'because local authorities promote development in times of recession'.Michael Spetch, head of corporate at Eversheds, says of Newcastle: 'We don't hit the economic highs, but we don't hit the lows either.' Because of the city's geographical position, corporate lawyers moving to Newcastle from other regions and cities tend to be drawn to the city for personal reasons.

Mr McNicol characterises this when he says: 'I first sampled Newcastle as a student.

There's a family feeling here in the north east.' This family feeling is echoed in the business community by a scheme called the Service Challenge, which operates to try and help local business keep local work.Mr Phillips says: 'Because it is such a small town, you don't get much movement to other regions.' He maintains that Newcastle corporate firms have not been unduly affected by the boost in salaries in London resulting from US law firm salary rates.

Mr Flynn says: 'We can have everyone in Newcastle we want to work for us, because when we identify good lawyers they join us immediately.' He says that Dickinsons has to be capable of attracting City lawyers: 'We're competing for the best people, and you don't get the best by telling them that there's a nice coast, and nice walks.' Mr Flynn acknowledges that Newcastle cannot compete on salaries with the top London firms 'but we can certainly make up the difference in career opportunities, and lifestyle'.

Naturally, in an enclosed legal market such as Newcastle's, merger rumours are always in the air.

Last year, Ward Hadaway and Watson Burton scrapped merger plans.

For Dickinsons, the merger question is one which takes a more vital strategic significance: can the big-hitting regional firm maintain its position against the national and global players? Mr Flynn says: 'If we're successful as a stand-alone firm, then we have the luxury of independence.' But he says the firm continues to review all options and keeps an open mind on potential mergers.

Eversheds' Mr Spriggs rebuts suggestions that being the regional office of an expanding international firm exposes Eversheds Newcastle to the risk of consolidation, such as that announced recently concerning Eversheds' Bristol outpost, which is packing its bags and moving to the bigger Cardiff office.

He says: 'With an international clientbase, work can be done in whichever office is able to provide the best service.' This move towards globalisation means the firm has 'moved into a different world from our competitors'.

However, Mr Spriggs does not think that the Eversheds way is the only way: 'I'm not saying that the Eversheds future is the better future - and there will always be room for the regional law firm - but if you're not one of the big ones, you won't get big work.' Mr Martin says the failure of Ward Hadaway and Watson Burton to merge was 'a different emphasis of focus'.

However, he adds that - as a firm which has a long history of acquisition and growth - 'merger is never far from the agenda' at Ward Hadaway.

With a building under construction behind its quayside offices overlooking the millennium bridge, Ward Hadaway certainly has room for more lawyers.

Recently, there have been rumours about Muckles and Ward Hadaway - both managing partners were seen having lunch together in a Newcastle restaurant.But Ian Gilthorpe, Robert Muckle managing partner, says such meals are not infrequent, but are as more about the Service Challenge Scheme than merger: 'I do have lunch with Jamie Martin, but I have had lunch with John Flynn too - it's good to talk.