Browne Jacobson receives top ranking status in Legal 500

Browne Jacobson has retained its position as one of the country’s leading law firms with a record number of recommendations and rankings in Legal 500, the independent guide to the legal sector published this week.

Overall the firm was ranked first in 29 specialist areas of law, improving its ranking in eight areas and achieving a first – time ranking in a further five areas.

Described as “one of the best firms in Nottingham” and chosen by clients “in preference to many of the national players” the firm maintains its dominant position in the East Midlands. The firm received the highest possible ranking in 24 areas, more than any other law firm in the region.

In the West Midlands the firm made significant strides on its 2012 position. It maintained its top ranking status for EU & competition, clinical negligence (defendant) and health. It further improved its ranking for intellectual property, corporate tax and professional negligence, as well as achieving a first-time ranking for its Sports team.

The firm’s London office enhanced its status with its education and commercial property retail team each receiving a number one ranking for the first time. Its local government and administrative & public law teams also improved their ranking and commercial property made it into the directory for the first time.

In the South West and North West the firm’s education teams achieved a first – time ranking.

The directory also ranked 10 of the firm’s lawyers as ‘leading individuals’ in their field with Head of Tax Andrew Noble and Head of Insolvency & Corporate Recovery Dominic Offord receiving a first time ranking in the East Midlands. Education also continued with its impressive rankings with Head of Education Mark Blois being rated as a leading individual for both the East Midlands and London regions. Other leading individuals were:

· Sarah White and Matthew Woodford (Birmingham)

· Nigel Blackwell, Gavin Cummings, Edward Benson, Mark Snelgrove, Caroline Green, (Nottingham)

Derek Bambury, Senior Partner at Browne Jacobson, said:

“We are delighted at this year’s rankings which recognise the strength in depth that each of our offices has to offer. The legal talent we have at Browne Jacobson is second to none and we are pleased that the tremendous effort, team work and commitment to client service displayed by our legal teams over the last year, backed up by a first class support function, has been recognised in this way.”

The results come at the end of a successful twelve months for the firm which has seen it post a record turnover of £45m and secure a raft of high profile national and regional public and private sector clients including Vodafone Limited, Deutsche Bank, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Government Procurement Service, National Audit Office and AXA Assistance S.A. Other notable achievements included being ranked in the prestigious Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For and being awarded ISO27001:2005 accreditation, the leading information security standard.

Legal 500 is one of the UK’s leading independent reviews of legal service providers. As part of the ranking process researchers seek feedback from both clients and peers, to gauge the performance of firms. Firms are then ‘ranked’ in tiers by practice area.