Lord Palmerston, the 19th century prime minister and architect of 'gunboat diplomacy', is one of the most famous clients in Payne Hicks Beach's 271-year history.And Richard Butcher, the London firm's modern-day head of civil litigation, is continuing the maritime tradition - albeit with less of a whiff of grapeshot.What attracts the yachting set to the firm, based in Lincoln's Inn, London, is a Torquay sailo r's knowledge of the sea.

Mr Butcher won a world championship in 1973 in the Fireball (two-man dinghy) international class of sailing dinghies.

He also won five British championships in Fireball and 470 Olympic classes in 1972, two in 1973, 1977 and in 1978.Having given up racing for the law in 1979, Olympic medallists, yacht builders, yacht designers, even sail makers now jostle for his attention at Payne Hicks Beach, where a royal flavour pervades the corridors.For Prince Charles's lawyer Fiona Shackleton - who has been dubbed the Steel Magnolia - recently joined the firm, taking with her a team of three other solicitors from Farrer & Co.But the firm's allure to which Ellen MacArthur, who recently came second in the Vendee Globe solo race around the world, was most attracted was not so blue-blooded.

She came to Mr Butcher in December 1998 with no money, nursing hopes of gaining a sponsor.

In the early days, Mr Butcher says he took a benign view over fees as he knew Ms MacArthur would respect his investment later.

He still sees his main role as one of protecting a vulnerable, 24-year-old client.Mr Butcher says: 'I put the deal into legal language and try to build in protections - from too much media exposure, for example.

I am not saying it happened with Ellen, but there is a tendency for young sailors to accept whatever is put to them, because they are so glad to get a sponsor that they will agree to anything.'Eventually, Ms MacArthur found a sponsor in Kingfisher plc.

Sailing is 'such a good deal' for the sponsor, according to Mr Butcher.

He explains: 'There are no crew costs, apart from one person on board the boat.

Unlike another ocean race, you don't have eight or nine stopovers, with support teams and families being flown around the world.

She has to be sailor, navigator, engineer, sail-maker and her own journalist.'However, Nicholas Fitzpatrick, a senior solicitor at City firm Denton Wilde Sapte, says that yacht sponsorship can be risky: 'The yacht sponsorship market is virtually unique, since the sponsorship is of an extremely valuable and vulnerable asset - the yacht.

There will, therefore, be issues in regard to ownership, protection and management of the asset, which do not arise in other sponsorship arrangements.'On a more personal level, Mr Butcher's passion for sailing is reflected in his respect for his client.

'Ellen is truly inspirational,' says Mr Butcher.

'Part of it is that she has common sense, and the most fantastic love of the sea and of sailing that I have ever known.'You see video shots of Ellen sailing in blue water on a sunny day.

It is not like that at all.

At night she is doing what is akin to driving a tube train down a tunnel without any lights on.

That is why there is this danger of sailing into icebergs.'During the race, Ms MacArthur had to contend with the most hostile weather.

As each depression passes over the Southern Ocean, another one is forming.

She had to search on her computer weather maps for the front edge of the low pressure zones that run around the planet, thereby anticipating the gradient winds as they fall from high pressure systems to low.Despite the difficult conditions, Ms MacArthur, whose great grandparents were boating people from Skye, made up 600 miles in around four days - and she took the lead on the 82nd day before striking a submerged container.

Though she crossed the line second, some say her performance was even better than that of the winner, Michel Desjoyeaux.

Yachting journalist Bob Fisher says she is Britain's finest ever sailor.Mr Butcher says: ' Some sailors, like Ellen, now bring out a book when they become successful instead of writing one later in their career.

Therefore you want to make sure you reserve for them the story rights.'What of Mr Butcher's own career on the high seas.

He started sailing aged eight in Torquay, and later sailed in the university team at Southampton.

Having moved to London in 1976, he worked at City firm Macfarlanes.

He was in the Olympic squad to go to Moscow, but would have needed to take 13 weeks off work.

He put career before sailing, and now no longer sails competitively: 'I do not want to race unless I can win and I do not have enough time to practise,' he says.However, Mr Butcher benefited from the experience.

'Lawrie Smith (a bronze medallist) and others whom I used to sail with in the Olympic team started instructing me - and the link with sailing has grown.

Their work is normally not litigious, more contractual, so I work closely with Guy Green, our head of company/commercial, on drafting agreements.'The British sailing team won three gold and two silver medals at last year's Sydney Olympics.

'We are the top nation in the world; three of my clients won medals, two gold and a silver,' says Mr Butcher.

Among his clientele are Olympic gold medallists Shirley Robertson and Iain Percy.

Another of his clients, Ian Walker, won a silver medal in the Star class.He worked on the British bid for the America's Cup in 2000, advising in relation to compliance with the original Deed of Gift and various protocols, formulating the challenge document.

Mr Butcher also advised on corporate structures, Lottery funding, and agreements with sponsors.

He is working on the current challenge by Team GBR.

Mr Butcher has also been involved in intricate sponsorship agreements between his client Lawrie Smith, and Silk Cut, which sponsored him for the last Whitbread round-the-world yacht race.Issues arose about tobacco sponsorship and in some territories, the boat had to be debranded.

Mr Smith's agreement differed from Ms MacArthur's in that he was the owner of the boat and engaged a crew, and was paid a flat fee by the sponsor.Ms MacArthur's achievement in the Vendee Globe has hit the target audience for her sponsors in France.

'The French have taken Ellen to their bosom, far more than in the UK,' says Martin Cannon, PR consultant, for the Institute of Sports Sponsorship.But sports sponsorship in the UK is also growing, and whenever big sponsorship contracts are drawn up, law firms are key to that process.

According to the Institute of Sports Sponsorship, spending on rights to sports events quadrupled in the past decade to reach more than £400 million in the UK last year.

The sum rises to £1.2 billion when exploitation costs are included.

Direct advertising, which entails far less legal work, is growing at a slower pace.As big money shifts into yacht sponsorship, so lawyers flock to yachting thrashes to chase the big corporate names on the FTSE blue-chip index.

Sponsorship broker Michael Kay has been called in this year to put a business profile on three regattas for the legal community.

He says the first event, the Manches Cup from 11-13 May - sponsored by the City law firm - will be attended by upwards of 75 yachts and nearly 700 lawyers, mostly from Manches, Eversheds and Freshfields.

while the Law Society's Sailing Club is thriving.