According to figures published by the National Audit Office, Slaughter and May has billed more than £9m in fees for its work advising the Treasury on the nationalisation of Northern Rock. Goldman Sachs received £4.8m; Ernst & Young earned £4.4 million; BDO Stoy Hayward £4.5 million and Clifford Chance £2.4 million. Happy days.

According to The Lawyer , the Treasury has spent £22.2m of taxpayers’ money with Slaughters since November 2007 – an average of £1.6m a month. Furthermore, the NAO report also shows that the Treasury agreed to a 15% uplift on Slaughters’ hourly rates to take into account demands such as the need for on-call advice. Sweet bananas.

Meanwhile, in a less conspicuous area of the public sector, it has emerged that “no-win, no-fee” lawyers are being allowed to charge the NHS Litigation Authority compensation scheme up to £804 an hour. The scheme is intended to compensate patients for medical blunders and inadequate care but seems to be more beneficial for compensation lawyers who are claiming costs and “success fees” worth about £100m a year.

Bertie Leigh, a lawyer who defends the NHS in litigation cases, said in The Times that he regards many of the cases he sees as a “buccaneering attack on the funds of the NHS”. In some cases the payouts claimed are 10 times more than the damages won by the patient!

So with industry sinking or hiding in port during this stormy period, looks like the public sector is providing some rich pickings.