The celebrity divorce of Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills has ousted terrorism and human rights as the top legal story of the year, a survey shows.

Their lawyers - Anthony Julius, who acts for Ms Mills, and Fiona Shackleton, who represents Sir Paul - have been pushed to top place in the league table of the most high-profile solicitors during the past year.

Mr Julius, who also acted for the Princess of Wales in her divorce from the Prince of Wales, attracted a total of 195 press mentions. Ms Shackleton, who represented the Prince, received 179 mentions.

The survey of lawyers dominating the press by the legal publishers Sweet & Maxwell shows that another top divorce lawyer, Raymond Tooth, entered the top ten after it was reported that he had acted for Irina Abramovich in her divorce from the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

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But in third place in the top ten high-profile solicitors was Nick Freeman, nicknamed “Mr Loophole”, who has earned a reputation for getting clients off driving charges, with 173 mentions.

Gareth Pierce, the human rights lawyer who topped the league table last year after representing suspects in the Forest Gate anti-terror raid, has fallen to 17th place.

Among barristers, Cherie Booth, QC, was still the most high-profile barrister for the year to June with 347 press mentions in 12 months - such as her recent hiring by the owner of a lap-dancing club to fight the smoking ban passed when her husband was Prime Minister.

Next is Michael Mansfield, QC, who is currently representing Mohamed Al Fayed in the inquest into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Al Fayed.

The survey finds a huge rise in press coverage of judges and justice ministers, with an average 1064 articles in the past month, more than double last year’s average of 426 and far more than even the most high-profile lawyers.

In comparision, the top ten barristers averaged 128 articles this year, up from 110 last year, and the top ten solicitors 102 articles, up from 90.

Jack Straw, the Lord Chancellor - who also has the title Secretary of State for Justice - attracted the most mentions in a league table of judges and ministers, with 4616 mentions, followed by Lord Goldsmith, QC, until recently Attorney-General, and then Lord Falconer of Thoroton, until recently Lord Chancellor.

But among judges, unsurprisingly the highest in the list is the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, with 600 mentions, followed by Lady Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, who until recently was the coroner for the Diana inquest.

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