The Legal 500 United Kingdom 2012

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The Legal 500 Historical Data: historical rankings and analysis

The Legal 500 Now available: The Legal 500 Historical Data – a new interactive service for law firms. The site contains historical rankings from 2008-2013 from The Legal 500 United Kingdom, United States, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific. Users are able to manipulate the raw data to produce and download reports including comparing and contrasting your firm with your peers and competitors, and customising data which can be used in pitch documents and RFPs. Visit www.legal500.com/historicaldata for more information.

Between June and September 2012, The Legal 500 research team contacted in-house counsel at the FTSE 100 and 250, and spoke to them about the firms they instructed. In the most comprehensive survey of the FTSE350 to date, we reveal which firms are instructed, in many cases breaking the results down into specific practice areas.

LONDON - Corporate and commercial

2011 saw the UK M&A market face its most challenging year on record, with total deal values just £75.1bn, nearly 10% down on the previous year’s figure. It is hardly surprising, given the successive shocks caused by the unfolding eurozone crisis and the stuttering domestic economy, that firms are increasingly looking away from developed economies to emerging markets deals, although on that front too there has been a decrease in the volume of transactions. From a global perspective, M&A values rose 4.7% in 2011 to $2.2 trillion, a far cry from the 24.7% increase between 2009 and 2010. In such tight market conditions, an increasing gulf has emerged between the handful of firms taking a role on the most complex cross-border transactions, and the mid-market players. US firms have also benefited from their ability to tap into a pool of acquisitive US corporates, with European deals frequently being led out of their London offices.

SCOTLAND

Edinburgh and Glasgow are separated only by a 42-mile stretch of the M8, but remain resolutely distinct. Together they form the ‘central belt’ – the heart of the country’s corporate and financial services markets – and most leading firms have offices in each city. The Court of Session, Scotland’s supreme civil court, sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh.

The prolonged challenging market conditions have prompted widespread strategic reassessment among law firms.

The announcement of McGrigors LLP’s merger with Pinsent Masons LLP came at a time when consolidation was an obvious next logical step for a marketplace that has long been seen as over-lawyered. The complementary features of both practices are clear, particularly when McGrigors LLP’s legacy oil and gas capability is viewed alongside its merger partner’s strength in the infrastructure and energy sectors. Many view the step as a tacit acknowledgement that the domestic market continues to shrink, and it certainly creates an enhanced international platform, particularly in the Middle East and Asia. The firm has a headcount to rival Eversheds LLP nationally and internationally, although what it means for the Scottish marketplace is less clear. The now defunct McGrigors brand long held a definite cachet in Scotland, and many lament its disappearance.

LONDON - Finance

Liquidity levels varied quite dramatically throughout 2011 in response to wider macro-economic influences, most significantly the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, which reached its peak in the middle of the year. During that period, new-money deals were very hard to get away due to vast uncertainty in the market, particularly deals in continental Europe. The first half of the year, however, was a somewhat different story; it saw a number of new-money deals going through, as private equity sponsors looked to deploy funds and also offload assets approaching the end of their life-cycle. Although banks were willing to lend if the target was sufficiently sound, the levels of lending were still considerably lower than during the pre-2007 peak of the market. While underwriting made a slight return, club deals remained the favoured method of spreading risk among banks. Other methods of financing were exploited as a means of offsetting the senior debt shortfall. Alternative debt providers such as hedge funds and mezzanine providers were increasingly popular, however it was the high yield market that provided the biggest impetus and established itself as the most prevalent structure on European leveraged finance deals, at least for the first half of 2011.

WEST MIDLANDS

The West Midlands comprises Birmingham and the surrounding counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire.

In the tough economic climate, every law firm has had to cut costs, and firms predict a long, slow road to recovery. There are currently a significant number of empty office spaces in Birmingham to fill, but it is not all doom and gloom as some development is still ongoing. There are some grounds for cautious optimism as the banks are slowly beginning to lend.

LONDON - DISPUTE RESOLUTION

The ongoing fallout from the global financial crisis continued to create a more litigious environment, particularly in banking litigation, with restructuring and insolvency work also likely to become more contentious.

Many law firms saw an increased flow of instructions from industrial clients facing disputes with suppliers and contractors, while other notable areas of activity included claims relating to joint ventures; professional negligence cases against advisers and asset managers; and private damages claims in follow-on litigation generated by cartel investigations. On the banking litigation side, firms have noted an increase in derivatives and structured products disputes, with related jurisdiction and interpretation battles; and mis-selling and fund management disputes in the retail/private wealth sector.

SOUTH EAST

This section covers the South East of England, excluding London. The borders are roughly Southampton to the south, Milton Keynes to the north, Newbury to the west and the Kent/Essex coastline to the east. In the absence of a single dominant urban centre, the South East is a patchwork of different legal markets, covered here as five sub-regions: Thames Valley, Berks, Oxon, M4/M40; Kent, Surrey, Sussex; Beds, Bucks, Herts, Middx; Hampshire; and Essex. All lawyers recognised in this chapter work full-time or part-time in the region.

Many firms experienced a significant upturn in work in 2011, but there is still caution in the market and transactional activity is far from pre-crisis levels. The anticipated increase in insolvency instructions has not yet materialised, nor has the predicted rise in litigation; ADR however remains a hot topic in the market, with a growing number of solicitors qualifying as mediators or collaborative lawyers. Despite the challenging market conditions, firms are displaying a quietly optimistic outlook and a determination to focus on key growth industries in order to increase profitability.

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Press releases

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Legal Developments in the UK

Legal Developments and updates from the leading lawyers in each jurisdiction. To contribute, send an email request to

Getting the breaks

Shook, Hardy & Bacon currently authors the Insurance section of The In-House Lawyer magazine. For more information and articles from this author click here .

- Falcon Chambers
Product liability and dietary supplements

Shook, Hardy & Bacon currently authors the Insurance section of The In-House Lawyer magazine. For more information and articles from this author click here .

- Shook, Hardy & Bacon International LLP
The calm before  the storm: are  you prepared for  a dawn raid?

WilmerHale currently authors the Fraud and Corporate Crime section of The In-House Lawyer magazine. For more information and articles from this author click here .

- WilmerHale
International shipment of waste: transporters beware

Burges Salmon LLP currently authors the Environment and Energy section of The In-House Lawyer magazine. For more information and articles from this author click here

- Burges Salmon LLP
Revisiting Bartoline

Macfarlanes LLP currently authors the Litigation & Dispute Resolution section of The In-House Lawyer magazine. For more information and articles from this author click here .

- Macfarlanes
Rent in administration proceedings: a headache for landlords

Druces currently authors the Insolvency and corporate restructuring section of The In-House Lawyer magazine. For more information and articles from this author click here .

- Druces
It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day

Arnold & Porter (UK) LLP currently authors the EU & Competition section of The In-House Lawyer magazine. For more information and articles from this author click here .

- Arnold & Porter (UK) LLP
Court of Appeal provides useful guidance on the  test for remoteness  of damages for  breach o

Edwards Wildman Palmer UK LLP currently authors the Contract section of The In-House Lawyer magazine. For more information and articles from this author click here .

- Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP
Unsafe products:  identifying serious risks and notifying the relevant authorities

Shook, Hardy & Bacon currently authors the Insurance section of The In-House Lawyer magazine. For more information and articles from this author click here . In the event that a safety problem is identified with one of your products, you will need to undertake a risk assessment to comply with the General Product Safety Directive.

- Shook, Hardy & Bacon International LLP
Supreme Court provides guidance  on forum conveniens and piercing the corporate veil 

Macfarlanes LLP currently authors the Litigation & Dispute Resolution section of The In-House Lawyer magazine. For more information and articles from this author click here . This article considers the Supreme Court decision in VTB Capital plc v Nutritek International Corp & or s [2013]. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the case is that it casts doubt on the notion that the Court has the power to pierce the corporate veil. The Supreme Court also held that, even if the power to pierce the corporate veil does exist, it does not enable a claimant to hold parties that control a company jointly and severally liable under contracts entered into by that company.  

- Macfarlanes

Press Releases in the UK

The latest news direct from law firms. If you would like to submit press releases for your firm, send an email request to

Bedell Trust appoints experienced Trust Practitioner in London

We are delighted to announce the appointment of William McGilivray , who joins our London office as a Director within Bedell Trust and adds further to our global expertise.

- Bedell Cristin
Bedell advise AXA Real Estate on CISX listed UK REIT for £472m Ropemaker Place Acquisition

Bedell Channel Islands Limited and Bedell Cristin advised AXA Real Estate Investment Managers (AXA Real Estate) on the recently completed £472m acquisition of Ropemaker Place in the City of London from British Land.

- Bedell Cristin
Clinical negligence 'rising star' joins Penningtons' Cambridge team

Penningtons Solicitors LLP is delighted to announce the appointment of Guy Forster as an associate in its nationally recognised specialist clinical negligence team. Guy has moved from Irwin Mitchell in Birmingham to head the clinical negligence team in Penningtons’ Cambridge office.

- Penningtons Solicitors LLP
Penningtons teams up with Innotech to support UK technology sector

Penningtons Solicitors LLP is sponsoring the Innotech Summit 2013, one of the UK’s leading technology business events. Taking place at Level39 in Canary Wharf on Friday 26 April, this year’s event aims to provide a platform to connect investors, tech entrepreneurs and game changing technologies in order to help develop tech start ups throughout the country.

- Penningtons Solicitors LLP
Penningtons named in Top 25 Most Admired Companies list

Penningtons Solicitors LLP has been recognised as one of an elite group of businesses in the private client profession by Private Client Practitioner magazine.

- Penningtons Solicitors LLP
Penningtons advises on sale of WG Healthcare to US market leader

Penningtons has acted for the shareholders of WG Healthcare UK Limited on the sale of part of the business to Wright Medical Technology, Inc, a US headquartered global orthopaedic medical device company listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.

- Penningtons Solicitors LLP
Penningtons secures further Solicitors Regulation Authority panel role

Penningtons Solicitors LLP's professional regulation team has been reappointed to the panel of law firms selected by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to advise on disciplinary proceedings and regulatory appeals following a formal tender process.

- Penningtons Solicitors LLP
Ex-Stringfellows dancer set to appeal Court of Appeal Judgment

Nadine Quashie, a former dancer with Stringfellow Restaurants Limited is set to appeal today’s Court of Appeal decision which reverses the Employment Appeal Tribunal finding where Ms Quashie had won her legal battle for employment rights.

- Bindmans LLP
New partner for Penningtons’ Cambridge office further strengthens technology capability

Penningtons Solicitors LLP has welcomed Hamish Corner as a new partner in its Cambridge office. Hamish joins from the London office of Charles Russell LLP, where he was a member of the intellectual property group and head of the IT and e-commerce group. His appointment reflects Penningtons’ commitment to the rapid growth of its Cambridge office, which now has five partners following the arrival of Helen Drayton from Hewitsons LLP in the summer.

- Penningtons Solicitors LLP
Asian workers allege discrimination, harassment and victimisation at Great Western Hospital

A group of 49 GMB members, from the Housekeeping Department of Great Western Hospital in Swindon, have instructed their lawyers, Bindmans LLP, to pursue claims in the Employment Tribunal amid allegations of race and religious discrimination, harassment and victimisation for trade union membership and whistle blowing by their employer Carillion Services Ltd.

- Bindmans LLP

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