If you’re a corporate financier who’s contemplating dividing your profits with loss-making fixed income colleagues, boutiques might have a certain appeal right now.

While stock prices and bonuses at big banks are heading the same way as family sing-alongs around the piano, corporate finance boutiques and independent outfits are starting to look like the next hot thing.

Yesterday, US-based Evercore Partners announced a 73% increase in third-quarter revenues, following hot on the heals of Lazard which revealed earlier this week that profits for the first three quarters of 2007 were up 33% on the same period of 2006. Last week, Greenhill revealed that its 3Q net income had more than doubled.

It helps that corporate finance-focused companies haven’t been dabbling in things like CDOs, but there may be more to their success than steering clear of sub-prime.

Financial News ran an article last week saying that boutiques and investment banks have gained market share from the big boys. In the US, boutiques and independents now account for 8.4% of M&A fees, compared to 8.7% for commercial banks like Bank of America and JPMorgan.

Meanwhile, the Telegraph reports that bankers dealing with small and mid-tier companies have never been busier, largely on the grounds of healthy cash flow and ample potential for restructuring in the sector.

Getting into a boutique or independent at this point in time may be another matter, though. Logan Naidu at recruitment firm Cornell Partnership says hiring has slowed up while they wait to see what happens elsewhere: “The perception is that there’s more candidate flow in the market and that if banks carry on with job cuts it’s better to wait and see who becomes available.”