Blake Morgan’s Cardiff teams celebrate success in UK legal directories (2019)

Blake Morgan’s teams and leading individuals in Wales have been recognised for the strength and depth of their expertise in the 2020 edition of the prestigious Legal 500 and the Chambers & Partners 2020 UK guide.

Both directories review and recognise the strengths of law firms and their lawyers across the UK and recommend them based on client and peer feedback.

In this year’s Legal 500, Blake Morgan has been ranked as a Tier 1 firm – the highest standard in the listings – in 13 practice areas in Wales. These include Corporate and Commercial, Public Sector, Commercial Litigation, Corporate Recovery and Insolvency, Employment, Health and Safety, Pensions, Construction, Clinical Negligence and Property Litigation.

The Legal 500 also lists 20 of the Cardiff based partners as ‘leading individuals’ – an accolade that recognises those lawyers who have demonstrated sector leadership and expertise – and an increase on the 17 listed in last years results. Seven individuals are listed as ‘rising stars’.

Among those listed as a ‘rising star’ is Joanne Thompson in the Commercial Litigation team, who is described as providing “pragmatic advice, which underscores her strong understanding of the law”. Nicky Sherrard, a senior associate in the Personal Tax Trusts and Probate team, is also listed and praised for her “attention to detail and client care experience”.

Blake Morgan also performed strongly in the Chambers and Partners 2020 UK guide. In Wales, eight practice areas were ranked in the top band for quality and service, including the firm’s Public Law, Construction, Employment, Litigation, Real Estate, Insolvency and Social Housing teams.

Nine Cardiff lawyers were also listed as Band One individuals in the Chambers 2020 guide, including Corporate Partner Rob Cherry,Commercial Litigation Partner Lee Fisher and Real Estate Partner Geoff Reed.

Siân Jones – a Partner in the firm’s Dispute Resolution team – is also highlighted in the top band and described as “commercial and astute” with a “direct and to the point style”. Meanwhile, Partner Paul Caldicott is said to be “very experienced and very good technically”.

Eve Piffaretti, Head of Blake Morgan’s Cardiff office, said: “Our hard-working team in Wales can be justifiably proud of the recognition achieved in this year’s most respected legal listings.

“This is a testament to the dedication and commitment of our legal teams to finding commercially realistic legal solutions to benefit our clients and their businesses both now and in the future.

“These rankings come directly from clients and peers, and I would like to thank our partners and people for delivering an outstanding service to them”.

Across the UK, Blake Morgan saw 37 practice areas highlighted as best-in-class ‘Tier 1’ in this year’s Legal 500, and 41 practice areas ranked as either Band 1 or 2 in the 2020 Chambers UK rankings.

A total of 37 lawyers from Blake Morgan’s offices in England and Wales were named elite ‘leading individuals’ in the Legal 500. Meanwhile, Chambers recognised 22 individuals as being in Band 1 and eight lawyers as ‘associates to watch’.