AL TableAndersen Legal (AL) is this month negotiating the final stages of its own break-up in a collapse that, within weeks, has brought down the largest legal arm yet built by a big five accountant (see box left).

The demise of the 3,000-lawyer AL, the second-largest legal network in the world, with annual revenues of more than $600m, has been triggered by the indictment of its accounting parent for its role in the collapse of US energy company Enron.