The Legal 500 > United Kingdom - Solicitors > South East > Commercial litigation: Kent, Surrey and Sussex

‘The Guildford office has high-quality work and delivers a hard-hitting litigation service where needed.  Despite this the CRS is commercially minded and focused on the cost to the end client.  The team works seamlessly together, is very responsive and communicates well.’

‘They have the ability to adapt and access a wide range of knowledge across a number of different people within the firm but still managing to balance this with a close relationship with one or two key members of the firm so that we know we always have someone to go to who supports us and knows our business.’

‘CRS are comfortably able to take on the City firms in large and medium litigation matters. They give sensible and cost-effective advice.’

‘Stephen Burns is responsive and hands-on as a partner. Katie Bewick is a very impressive junior associate.’

‘Stephen Burns and Charlotte Healy have been exceptional in dealing with us. We are a small business, so cost is an issue for us and they have both managed to balance that incredibly well whilst providing sound legal advice. They have provided the right level of comfort that we are legally supported and their knowledge and understanding of the case is really good.’

‘Steve Burns is to the point and articulate.  He gets to the heart of legal issues and puts unnecessary detail to one side.’

‘Katy Ackroyd works incredibly hard and is very on the ball.’

‘They are extremely client focused and innovative.’

‘Andrew Frake is calm, pragmatic and easy to get along with. He is first rate at understanding clients’ commercial and tactical objectives.’

‘Andrew Frake is hugely experienced and adept at reading difficult opponents and situations.’

‘James Parratt is patient and careful in his analysis; always on top of the issues.’

‘We’ve worked with the firm for many years. Consequently they know our business very well, they understand our culture, what’s important to us and the way we work.’

‘Cripps is a relatively small firm but punches above its weight. It is regularly involved in litigation in London, including some major litigation including one of the biggest fraud cases in the UK. It frequently acts for large international clients. Its lawyers have experience of work in City firms and abroad which allows it to give a serious offering to clients without the central London price tag.‘

‘It is a strong regional team with excellent experience and professionalism, dealing with complex matters effectively and efficiently. This team compares very favourably with other firms in the region. A first-rate team.’

‘A particular quality is their skill in judging how to run litigation cost effectively.  The lawyers I have dealt with know when to do the work themselves and when to use counsel. They also know when to incur costs and when not to.‘

‘Ed Weeks is the stand out partner.  Very, very good at running litigation, judging how to take matters forward and knows a pretty good amount of black letter law himself.’

‘Especially capable and experienced is Ed Weeks who heads the team and brings experience, ability and charm in equal measure to matters he deals with. He is excellent with clients and commands much (justified) confidence.’

‘Will Charlesworth has been a highly capable and hard working assistant, well able to handle client matters.’

‘Joanna Ford is smart, straightforward and approachable, with a strong commercial instinct.’

‘Hannah Proctor was also very efficient, calm and knowledgeable on the litigation side of things.’

‘Hannah Proctor impressed with her organisational skills and down-to-earth approach.‘

‘I have experience dealing with a number of their partners and associates and am aware of the general feedback on the team; they are excellent and an absolute pleasure to work with. The quality of work is very good and the team are extremely efficient.’

‘They are a wonderful team who are a pleasure to work with and create a productive environment for working together and getting the best result for the client.’

‘They made a stressful time for us less stressful with a pragmatic but firm approach. Knowledge of their subject matter and processes are all good. In hindsight, they got us a good result in a pragmatic way.’

‘Simon Elcock is intelligent, decisive and professional.’

‘Kelly Mills has great attention to detail and has good intuition‘.

‘James Colvin and Simon Elcock stand out – attentive, bright and willing to roll up their sleeves. It is always a pleasure to work with them.’

‘Emma Pumfrey-Selman is a rising star.‘

‘Simon Elcock leads the team very well, he has excellent client management skills and a very good feel for the merits of a case and the correct way to progress.’

‘James Colvin has excellent instincts, his initial view for a case is rarely incorrect and he is very efficient.’

‘Kelly Mills has excellent instincts. Kelly is always responsive and has great communication skills with clients.’

‘Emma Pumfrey-Selman – always very well prepared and on top of the facts of cases.’

‘Irwin Mitchell’s Crawley team is a rare beast: a firm doing City of London work at out-of-London rates. Since they merged with Thomas Eggar, this commercial litigation boutique has benefited from the manpower and resources that come with being part of a larger firm. The best of both worlds.‘

‘The team provide a reliable, consistent level of service always ensuring that a team member is available to support you through any process. The practice had guided us through the minefield of dispute resolution which has been a new aspect of our particular business.’

‘Robert Parks is a committed and dedicated commercial lawyer with remarkable focus and attention to detail. He rolls up his sleeves and gets to grips with knotty technical points and really understands the client’s business and their commercial needs.’

‘I have rated them as excellent to exceptional on everything where I am in a position to comment.’

‘Robert Parks and Sabrina Goran are excellent to work with. They are detailed, provide options and solutions to all issues, always checking that we have a full appreciation of both possible positive and negative outcomes.’

‘A high level of trust has been developed since the business relationship commenced. Tom Barnard and Clemmie Burch have been a real pleasure to work with, as has partner Martin Cross. They are all extremely responsive and approachable, as well as being highly practical and with sound grasp of details.’

‘Robert Kenyon provided practical and helpful advice, and was always available and happy to talk through issues in detail.‘

‘Their qualities are focus, attention to detail, professionalism and courtesy.’

‘My introductions have always been to one senior partner who has to date provided excellent service via his real estate and litigation team, and that gentleman is Mr Kamal Kishore Aggarwal.’

‘James Cradick is a very open-minded, forward-thinking person. He is a very good lawyer and his arguments are to the point. I’m enjoying cooperation with him very much.’

‘On an arbitration regarding international sale contracts, I worked with David Hitchcock. He was obviously on top of the detail of the case, and adopted a sensible strategy throughout the proceedings. I think he did a very good job for his client.’

‘They are a small but effective team, agile and forward thinking. Their client handling is first rate. They are bullish when they need to be but always protect the down side.’

‘Griffin is unusual in being a small litigation boutique located outside of London. It manages to retain extremely knowledgeable and high-quality lawyers. This, coupled with an innovative approach to managing and funding cases, means that Griffin seems able to attract extremely high-quality work, which it discharges very well. It really does offer a high-quality city standard of litigation, at a comparatively modest cost.’

‘Griffin Law is a unique litigation firm that consistently managed to punch above its weight for a small/medium firm in Kent. They have the work ethic and commercial edge of any London based firm I have worked with. Everyone I have worked with in this firm is knowledgeable on their respective briefs and when in doubt they communicate and come back with a definitive answer.’

‘All the partners and individuals I have dealt with have been excellent but in particular Laura Ware stands out. She has a keen eye for detail and an excellent demeanor with clients.’

‘Donal Blaney commands a particularly impressive client base of ultra high net worth individuals and individuals with a high profile. Donal is incredibly industrious and highly strategically innovative and has to my knowledge achieved superb results for clients in very difficult positions.’

‘Neil Kelley brings enormous experience to Griffin, having come from a background of blue chip law firms. His knowledge of the court system and procedural law, and his instinct for a client’s prospects and how to maximise them, is very impressive.’

‘Mark Edmonds is incredible commercially aware and has a rare ability to help clients focus on their commercial instincts and achieve that outcome. He avoids the common fault of being process-driven, instead helping clients to focus on the bottom line, enabling them to maximise their prospects or minimise the damage as the case may be.’

‘The team provides an outstanding service and are very quick, thorough and professional with the response. The set up is very clear, you always know who is dealing with which part of the inquiry, corporate or property team.’

‘We have a 95% win rate in court and that is due to Nigel Davidson’s full understanding of a difficult area of law.‘

‘They stand out because of their willingness to go the extra mile. Our reputation is linked to their ability to push through litigation in a timely fashion.’

‘The Dispute Resolution team at PDT are very strong and commercially minded and have a knack for understanding what judges are looking for in terms of persuasive litigation.’

‘William Angas is a very focused team player and understands his client’s needs.’

‘Associate Laura Sutton is excellent  with a very strong pleading style and the ability to see several steps ahead for the client’s benefit.’

‘Gail Morris is a pleasure to work with, has always been very thorough in her approach to cases, and is willing to take the time out to properly think through matters before taking action.’

‘Associate Aysha Hussain, despite only recently being post-qualification,  shows an awareness above her years and a careful approach to litigation.’

‘They are big enough to offer bandwidth in expertise, small enough to maintain personal relationships.’

‘Nigel Davidson is professional, commercial ( very unusual but great) and decisive.’