Blake Morgan’s Cardiff teams celebrate success in UK Legal Directories (2018)

Blake Morgan’s teams and leading individuals in Wales have been recognised for the strength and depth of their expertise in the 2018 edition of the prestigious Legal 500 and the Chambers & Partners 2019 UK guide.

Blake Morgan’s teams and leading individuals in Wales have been recognised for the strength and depth of their expertise in the 2018 edition of the prestigious Legal 500 and the Chambers & Partners 2019 UK guide.

Both directories review and recognise the strengths of law firms and their lawyers across the UK and recommend them based on feedback from clients and peers. Blake Morgan is the only firm in Wales to be ranked as a Tier 1 for public law work by both directories.

In this year’s Legal 500, Blake Morgan has been ranked as a Tier 1 firm in 12 practice areas in Wales, including Corporate and Commercial, Corporate Recovery and Insolvency, IT, Intellectual Property, Construction, Commercial Litigation, Health & Safety, Social Housing, and Property Litigation.

The Legal 500 also lists 16 of the Cardiff headquartered partners as ‘leading individuals’ – an accolade that recognises those lawyers who have demonstrated sector leadership and expertise – and an increase on the five listed in 2017’s results. 43 individuals are listed as ‘recommended’.

Among those listed as ‘Recommended’ are Louise Howells, a Partner in the Commercial Property team, who is described as an “outstanding” lawyer who offers “skillful and knowledgeable” advice. Rachel Gwilliam, a Partner in the Construction team, was also listed and praised for “extensive industry knowledge”.

Blake Morgan also performed strongly in the Chambers and Partners 2019 UK guide. In Wales, ten practice areas were ranked in the top band for quality and service, including the firm’s Construction, Corporate/M&A, Employment, IT, Litigation, Real Estate, Social Housing and Insolvency.

Ten Cardiff lawyers were also listed as Band One individuals in the Chambers 2019 guide, including Corporate Partner Rob Cherry, Commercial Litigation Partner Lee Fisher and Education Partner Matthew Smith. Joanne Davies – a Partner and Team Manager in the firm’s Employment, Pensions and Immigration group – was also highlighted in the top band and described as “commercially minded, hard-working and straightforward”. Senior Associate Ian Jones is said to “demonstrate an excellent knowledge and practical application of all areas of employee relations.”

Emyr Lewis, Senior Partner in Blake Morgan’s Cardiff office, said: “Once again, our team here in Wales can be rightly proud of its achievements as recognised by this year’s listings.

“Most importantly, the rankings are based on the feedback of our clients and peers.  It is good to know that our professional service and expertise in the local market is recognised by the most important people of all; our clients.”

Across the UK, Blake Morgan saw 32 practice areas highlighted as best-in-class ‘Tier 1’ in this year’s Legal 500 and 20 practice areas listed as Band 1 in the 2019 Chambers UK rankings.

A total of 30 lawyers from Blake Morgan’s offices in England and Wales were named elite ‘leading individuals’ and 166 lawyers were listed as ‘recommended’ for their levels of service, expertise and excellence in the Legal 500.  In the 2019 Chambers UK guide, 22 individuals were awarded Band 1 individuals and 12 ‘associates to watch’.