Yet again the Legal 500, the largest and most in-depth survey of the UK legal market, has placed Stephensons as an undoubted top 100 player with its 2005 success seeing the firm increase its national ranking to 63rd out of more than 800 law firms reviewed. The publication is one of the most comprehensive guides providing valuable recommendations of a firms standing in the marketplace.
In particular, the 2006 edition released yesterday [19th September] recommends Stephensons for quality of service across the region for its Wigan-based corporate and commercial division, which continues to have its reputation for depth and knowledge built by Nick Yates and Kay Waddington.
The firm has also been recommended in the field of commercial property following its exceptional national performance amounting to a transaction scale of £1.6 billion. Its environmental expertise, based in its Leigh office, has also been recommended through the work of Andrew Leakey, who is an expert in contamination disputes.
The personal injury team, headed by Kate Sweeney and also based in Leigh, has been recommended most notably for its handling of thousands of annual road traffic claims, and catastrophic injury expertise.
Stephensons clinical negligence, family and crime divisions have also gained recommendations. Headed by Peter Stott, the clinical negligence team includes a number of Law Society's Clinical Negligence panel members. Peter has obtained some £5.5m of payments on behalf of three clients in 2005, and is currently handling 12 £1m-plus claims. His specialist area is in the helping parents of children affected by cerebral palsy.
Named individuals also include Manchester-based Michael Devlin, a child law specialist and Liz Tait who heads the divorce and ancillary relief group, and Wigan-based Neal Boland who specialises in corporate and regulatory defence work and Campbell Malone who acted on two high-profile shaken baby syndrome cases and successfully appealed two murder convictions.
Recommendation was also given for the Stephensons team who work in the field of social housing litigation from its St Helens office, which has Manchester City Council as a client.
Stephenson’s chairman, Nick Yates, says: “We are absolutely delighted with the recommendations made by this year’s edition of the Legal 500. The past year has seen us promoting the fact that we offer legal services the way that people want them and this survey undoubtedly recognises the fact that people don’t have to go to big city lawyers to get quality service. Recommendations have been given on our expertise and experts based not just in Manchester but throughout the regions – Wigan, Bolton, Leigh and St Helens. We are proud that we can provide such highly skilled individuals where, and when, people from all walks of life need them.”