The Parliamentary Counsel are a specialised team of lawyers based in Whitehall.

David Deary, a lawyer based in Dallas who filed both complaints, declined to comment yesterday.

They were rebuffed by lawyers based in New York, they said.

After graduation, Jones worked for 20 years at Edge & Ellison, a firm of lawyers based in Birmingham.

Raul Calvoz is an American lawyer and businessman, based in Austin, Texas.

The new firm would have been one of the nation's largest legal advisers, with 1,500 lawyers based in New York and San Francisco.

Her father is a lawyer and an agent, based in Manhasset, representing entertainers and sports figures.

Launched in 2007, Avvo has developed a rating scale for lawyers based upon a proprietary algorithm.

"Phone conferences are just not an adequate substitute," said Stanley Marcuss, an international lawyer based in Washington.

Clients can shop around for lawyers based on the cases they handle.