LEADING regional law firm Howes Percival has been awarded top tier rankings in 13 different legal specialisms in the 2018 edition of The Legal 500 – the authoritative guide to the UK’s leading law firms.
The top tier rankings include:
– Corporate and Commercial;
– Commercial Litigation;
– Debt Recovery;
– Insolvency and Corporate Recovery;
– Employment;
– Health and Safety;
– Tax, Trusts and Probate;
– Commercial Property including Environment, Planning and Property Litigation; and
– Intellectual Property.
In addition, nine further Howes Percival specialisms are recommended in the guide including Banking and Finance, Charities and Not for Profit, Contentious Trusts and Probate, Construction, Family, Education, IT and Telecoms and Media and Entertainment.
Earlier this year Howes Percival reported a 14 per cent increase in turnover, with profits up 37 per cent, for the firm’s full financial year ending May 2018.
The results followed a period of sustained, strategic investment and expansion which included new offices, the recruitment of a series of senior level experts and a refocusing on core sector specialisms including Development and Construction, Education, Automotive, Food and Drink, Agriculture and Leisure and Tourism.
This includes the acquisition, in June 2017, of the business of Summers Nigh Law LLP, a niche insolvency practice. Katie Summers and Deborah Nigh and their entire team joined the Northampton Office and they have since recruited two further insolvency solicitors to cope with the ever-increasing workload from their Insolvency Practitioner and business/private clients. They advise on all aspects of corporate and personal insolvency and their ability to handle complex insolvency work is widely recognised in the industry.
The residential conveyancing team in Northampton, headed by Sarah Di Pane, has seen an increase in instructions of 40 per cent so far this year. The team has expanded with three new recent recruits and is set to continue focussing on providing exceptional client service. The residential market across the UK continues to be buoyant, but even more so in Northamptonshire. Local agents report that there is no let-up in the number of people looking to buy and sell their homes. Despite the uncertainty over Brexit, 2019 looks set to see this trend continue.
In September 2018, it was announced that Howes Percival had extended its Government work following its appointment to a second legal panel. The £130 million Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Full Service panel for England covers a broad range of legal services including commercial, corporate, property and construction, IT, data protection, litigation and public procurement.
Commenting on the firm’s rankings Howes Percival’s senior partner Gerald Couldrake said: “This is a really excellent set of rankings and recommendations. I’m particularly pleased to see the firm now recognised in tier 1 for Corporate and Commercial. The team has been growing for a number of years and has delivered a series of eye-catching deals recently. We have also seen a significant jump in the overall number of recommendations. The firm is now recommended for 22 different legal specialisms, which demonstrates the breadth of expertise we can now offer. The firm is in a great place at the moment with a good mix of rapidly expanding new offices in Cambridge and Milton Keynes alongside our firmly established locations of Leicester, Manchester, Northampton and Norwich. As a result, we’ve got more resources and expertise than ever and have been able to further develop our key sector expertise and work more collaboratively on larger instructions.”
Howes Percival’s six offices serve clients nationwide ranging from Government departments, international brands and household names such as Welcome Break, Microsoft and leading pub operator and independent brewer Marston’s, to family businesses and high-net worth individuals and directors.
The Legal 500 is widely regarded as the authoritative guide to the UK’s leading law firms, it recommends firms and lawyers based on independent research, interviews and client feedback.
Full details of Howes Percival’s rankings can be found on the Legal 500 website: www.legal500.com/firms/1638-howes-percival-llp/1893-northampton-england