Some advisers worked non-stop for days to ensure transactions were finished in time, in many cases toiling until deep into Saturday evening before the midnight deadline.
There were reports of business owners grabbing naps in law firms' offices as negotiations dragged on, and of corporate and banking departments being as busy at 3am as they are during a weekday.
The higher value transactions included the £40m sale of Rochdale-based Richardson Projects to ROK, Sage's £21m swoop for Manchester software group Tekton, the secondary buyout of children's nursery chain Kidsunlimited and founder Tommy Schweiger's sale of his stake in duvets-to-curtains business Character World.
Halliwells' lawyers worked around the clock as they recorded their busiest-ever period, with more than 50 specialists involved in 30-plus deals over the last two weeks.
Partner Paul Jefferson said: "In my 13 years as a lawyer I have never experienced a busier period. There was a stampede to beat the capital gains tax deadline."
But he now expects activity to slow significantly for the next few months.
Ed Foulkes, a partner at Manchester firm LLM, said: "It was a false market created by the tax changes, but all the corporate lawyers in town were working flat out.
"We completed seven deals in the last two days alone, including one we were only instructed on at the start of the week.
The hectic activity led to us working 15 and 16-hour days."
He said there were plenty of `frazzled' characters around town but added: "Quite a few will be putting their feet up this week."
David Eames, of Brabners Chaffe Street, which completed 11 deals last week, said: "Pizza delivery, adrenalin and team morale were the driving forces. We had to keep each others' spirits up and working as a team has never been more important."
Chris Moss, of Pinsent Masons, went home for just a shower and change of clothes between 7am on Wednesday and Friday afternoon.
It was a similar story for advisers at George Davies, where corporate head Mark Hovell averaged three hours' sleep a night last week.
"We completed 12 deals across the country with a total value of £200m and will be billing for one week what we would normally do in a quarter," said Mark.
"There was a willingness on all sides to get deals done."
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