With its customary stiff upper lip, the UK legal sector has weathered the pandemic storm amazingly well. But my guess is the numbers disguise growing tensions within many law firms.

More often than not, an M&A deal can present like an episode of Takeshi’s Castle – a challenging obstacle course almost designed to ensure failure, where only the most formidable succeed.

There is, right now, a huge opportunity for good leaders to differentiate their firms with proactive culture building, and to create competitive advantage by getting all staff re-engaged in the firm’s plans.

Like the weather, our feelings and perspectives change and undulate throughout the day. When you look outside, you get a snapshot of the world in that moment.

SDLT is not stamp duty. This is something I have to say to firms too often. Whilst it has some of the same words in its name, it is not the former tax on property deeds that existed pre-December 2003.