The Legal 500

Cripps Harries Hall LLP is a leading law firm based in the South East, providing a wide range of legal services. The firm advises many high-profile clients, including plcs, financial institutions, private companies, local and national government, charities and individuals.

The firm: Cripps Harries Hall LLP’s core values are to be distinctive, open and committed. Distinctive – offering a tailored and innovative approach. Open – sharing ideas and information. Committed – being there every step of the way.

These values drive the firm forward and touch on all aspects of its business – from its people and how they interact with each other and with its clients, through to its service delivery and corporate social responsibility.

The firm’s strength comes from the people who work in it as it continues to develop homegrown talent and to hire experienced people from the City. The firm is accredited to the Law Society’s quality assurance standard, Lexcel and has achieved this consecutively for 11 years. It has also been recognised as one of the UK’s top employers in ‘The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies To Work For 2010’ and was one of only only seven law firms to be ranked.

With its Tunbridge Wells headquarters just 45 minutes from London, the firm’s lower overheads allow it to provide a quality service at outstanding value for money. Investing heavily in IT ensures clients benefit from innovative services and information delivered via a secure extranet.

The firm has also established an excellent reputation for its imaginative and commercial approach to providing solutions for clients, as exemplified by its long-standing involvement with Lovells in the ‘Mexican-Wave’ initiative for Prudential Property Investment Managers.

Types of work undertaken: Real estate: the nationally recognised portfolio property group handles all aspects of commercial real estate work for owners and occupiers, with a dedicated property dispute resolution team (the largest in the South East) covering all aspects of contentious property issues. The retail group acts for a number of institutionally owned shopping centres across the country, as well as national retail chains. The public sector group provides a focused service to the firm’s high-profile central and local government clients. It is one of seven firms on the government’s Buying Solutions’ property and estates panel.

The development group acts for major developers and national housebuilders, covering the whole range of commercial, residential and mixed-use development. Its depth of expertise in the housebuilding sector is a core strength. It has specialist property, planning and construction lawyers and a further dedicated team advises investors in the residential property market. The affordable housing group provides a full range of property and planning services to housing associations and other registered social landlord clients.

Corporate: the corporates group advises on mergers, acquisitions and disposals, corporate finance and commercial contracts. Dedicated teams specialise in the technology, media and advertising sectors, and in advising French corporate clients operating in the UK. The firm is also highly rated for its commercial dispute resolution expertise, for its advice to partnerships and professional practices, and for employment work.

Private client: the private client group is one of the most pre-eminent in the country and the firm has been recognised as one of the ‘Top 25 Law Firms’ by Private Client Practitioner magazine. It has particular expertise in providing advice on tax and trusts to high-net-worth individuals. Specialist teams act for executors and trustees, and for residential and agricultural property owners. The firm also handles a wide range of contentious private client work, including family law, trust and will disputes, professional negligence and personal injury claims. Its specialist charities group is drawn from across the firm, providing advice to charities and not-for-profit organisations.

Other offices: London

Number of UK partners 42
Number of other UK fee-earners 115