Once upon a time the smuggest of the magic circle law firms, but since it moved its offices the a rag-and-bone market in East London, a more chastened outfit. A&O likes to think itself as the European inhouse-legal department for ISDA, who are in the same building in Spitalfields. Other firms might beg to differ — as might ISDA — but it means A&O can rightly be taken to task for putting Cross Default in a derivative master agreement, using the word furnish in a way that does not mean “things you regret buying from IKEA”, and the general, utter horror of the drafting of the 2016 VM CSA.

See also