He honed his skills as a defence lawyer but as his reputationspread for his skill in cross-examination and handling juries, he began to be offered libel work, where the big money is made.
G4S's activities range from delivering cash to banks to creating security systems for buildings and fire protection systems for America's space agency, NASA. Many of these firms benefit from long experience of public-private partnerships, which were pioneered in Britain (and often have a poor reputation there) but have spread to other countries.
The scale of Merck's problems will spread alarm through an industry that has seen both its reputation and money-making potential take several heavy hits of late.