But around 37 staff and one partner were dealt a blow on Tuesday with the announcement of their redundancies. HBJ Gateley Wareing, Barlow Lyde & Gilbert, Hill Dickinson and Kennedys completed a deal to divide up the collpsed firm’s assets but not every job could be saved and more redundancies are expected pending the completion of the transfers of Halliwells’ operations.

The deal saw HBJ Gateley take on around 200 staff and lawyers including 40 former Halliwells partners. A total of 238 staff, including 17 partners are to join Barlows and around 89 staff in Liverpool including 19 partners, 41 fee earners and 29 support staff will go to Hill Dickinson with a further 36 joining them in Sheffield.

So what went wrong? After Halliwells rebranded from Halliwell Landau in 2004, the firm spent millions fitting out its new Spinningfields HQ. The firm then agreed to pay an annual rent of £4.68m for its 180,000sqft base, a high level agreed to in return for a cash handout upfront from the developer – trousered by various senior partners. As the recession hit, the firm suffered reduced fee income, falling profits and defections of key players to other firms. Meanwhile the rent level could only increase because of an upward-only rent review clause in the lease. Halliwells finally pulled the plug, filing two notices of intention to appoint an administrator, with the firm owning £22m to its bank and further sums to creditors. The rest, and Halliwells itself, is now history.