Duncan Smith has barely had time to pause for breath since he set up WSmiths five years ago. In that short space of time the firm has grown from a one-man outfit to a firm with 13 lawyers. It now has three offices in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Hong Kong and Uruguay and a turnover in excess of $5m (2.64m). Smith got the idea for setting up his own firm when he was working for Harneys in the BVI. He was frustrated by the approach established firms took to their work. "It was self-evident that there was an enormous gap in the market for a firm with commercially-minded lawyers recruited from the bigger firms in the UK and the US," says Smith. Smith left and started up Walker Smiths by himself. However, the arrival of a Cayman Island rival prompted a rethink on the name.