Legal 500: Best of the rest
IN our final coverage of this year’s Legal 500, we take a look at ‘the best of the rest’ across the North West legal scene.
Outside of those law firms that consistently appear in tiers one and two for the North West region within our business focussed edition of the Legal 500, are many other good firms making regular appearances in sectors from crime, to family law to health and safety.
Beachcroft in Manchester has boosted its position in a number of practice areas and is now ranked in either tier one or tier two in nearly 60% of all listings. The firm moved from tier three to tier one in personal injury and also moved up to Tier three for Private Finance Initiative work in this year’s review.
The Legal 500 said: “Beachcroft goes from strength to strength in the region, reflected in its move to new offices in June 2010.”
Another ‘one to watch’ is JMW, which this year was ranked in 11 practice areas and has made some significant lateral hires during the past 12 months, including corporate partner Chris Moss from Pinsent Masons and Keith Arrowsmith from Ralli.
Pannone also makes regular appearances throughout the report, which says the firm is “deeply entrenched in the fabric of Manchester’s business and private client community”.
The firm is particularly strong in claimant clinical negligence and personal injury, and also picks up impressive mandates in commercial litigation and employment, among other areas.
Gateley is a noted new entrant in the market following its absorption of most of Halliwells’ Manchester office, although not its defendant-focused insurance practice, which went to Barlow Lyde & Gilbert LLP.
In Criminal law, Burton Copeland is noted for its strength in depth, while Pannone continues to act on some of the highest-profile missing trader intra community (MTIC) cases. Tuckers Solicitors has one of the largest teams in the region. Leigh Wright heads the special casework department, dealing with complex confiscation cases and major prosecutions of fraud and serious crime.
In Licensing, Kuit Steinart Levy specialises in the licensing of establishments in the retail and hospitality industries. Meanwhile, Cobbetts has been increasingly busy advising on enforcement issues relating to PACE interviews, prosecutions and review hearings. Other work includes advising on licence conditions and on obtaining and retaining premises licences.
In Health and safety, Barlow Lyde & Gilbert now houses the former health and safety team of Halliwells. Highlights included advising TAV Engineering Limited in its prosecution arising from the Buncefield explosion.
DWF advises insurer clients such as QBE Insurance, and is also advising a range of clients in the construction, waste and manufacturing sectors on fatal accident cases. Addleshaw Goddard has expanded its blue-chip client list. In addition to prosecution work and investigations, it also gained work from high-profile UK and multinational companies requiring advice on safety governance and management.
In Clinical negligence claimant work, Irwin Mitchell regularly settles claims in excess of £1m and undertakes inquest and inquiry work. Pannone secured damages of over £3m in two separate birth injury cases, while JMW Solicitors achieved a £6.4m settlement in a birth injury case.
Defendant work in the same area sees Hempsons successfully defend numerous potentially high-value clinical negligence claims, and regularly acts for Foundation Trusts, NHS trusts, the NHSLA, and the Medical Defence Union. Hill Dickinson represents over 40 NHS trusts through NHSLA schemes, while Weightmans’ deals principally with high-value birth injury cases for the NHSLA.
In personal injury, the team at Irwin Mitchell recently appointed experienced collision investigator Christopher Noblett. MPH Solicitors has a dedicated team within its industrial disease practice dealing exclusively with hearing loss claims. Military work highlights included achieving settlements for soldier amputees.
Pannone acts on multimillion-pound injury claims, as well as in niche areas such as deaths in custody.
Thompsons Solicitors is an experienced trade union law firm and recently acquired Thornleys’ Solicitors personal injury team, strengthening its relationship with one of the UK’s largest trade unions.
For Professional negligence Hill Dickinson continues to serve longstanding clients such as Aviva, as well as new clients WR Berkeley and Quinn.
Legal Risk’s client base predominantly comprises law firms and their professional indemnity insurers, while niche practice Robin Simon handled several heavyweight professional indemnity claims for construction professionals and insurance brokers.
The growing team at Weightmans continues to attract work from professionals and major insurers such as QBE, and new client Hannover.
In Family law, DWF won a reported Court of Appeal case concerning personal liability for a £3m personal injury award. Other work included three cases with net onshore and offshore assets of over £100m.
The team at Mills & Reeve is still relatively new to the region, but is described by one client as ‘Manchester’s best-kept secret’. The large team at Pannone advises on a broad range of work, often involving international elements.
Notable work for the team at Weightmans included advising on complex company law and trust structures in a number of ancillary relief and Schedule 1 Children Act cases, with assets ranging between £20m to £50m.
