How good is any given law firm? Any compelling answer is going to need to draw together a range of different variables. In the industry, certain authorities are viewed as more prestigious than others.
Legal Directories rankings
Chambers and Partners is an organisation headquartered in London, whose job for more than three decades has been to offer international rankings for top law firms. Another source of authority is the Legal 500 series from Legalease Ltd., which is a data company devoted to the same task.
The latter is the world’s largest legal guide in the world, with more than five million users. The former sits just behind, on just over three million. Every year, the legal world waits with bated breath to see where each firm has been ranked.
Shoosmith rankings
The 2024 rankings have recently been released by Chambers and Partners. Shoosmiths, a leading expert in brain injury claims and medical negligence law, came in for high praise. The firm was ranked in ninety-six practice areas. It was the sixth-most-ranked firm in the entire directory.
Individual rankings
155 Shoosmiths lawyers were granted individual rankings, and the firm’s head of dispute resolution and litigation practice, Alex Bishop, was awarded Eminent Practitioner status. Twenty-two partners were ranked in Band 1, while another twenty-two were labelled ‘associates to watch’.
Legal 500 release
The Chambers and Partners report comes just a month after the Legal 500, which was similarly glowing in its praise of Shoosmiths. The firm received more respondents than any other participating firm, being ranked in 91 different practice areas. Two hundred and seventy-two lawyers from the firm were referenced by the guide; in seventeen practice areas, the firm was promoted, while in a further seven, the firm managed to earn a new ranking. This is all extremely impressive stuff.
The firm’s CEO, David Jackson, was keen to praise the efforts of his staff.
“I’m extremely proud that the firm has achieved record rankings in both the guides,” he said in a statement. “This is another year-on-year improvement for Shoosmiths, indicative of our strong client relationships, the commitment to excellence that our lawyers bring with them every day, and our ambition to lead in our areas of strategic focus across real estate, corporate, litigation and our sectors of choice.”
This isn’t the first time that the firm has been identified as high-quality. In the Innovative Lawyers Index, from the Financial Times, it was ranked 15th. Moreover, the firm picked up the TMT Team of the Year award at the Legal Business Awards, which were held at Grosvenor House in London in September. This was just a year after being named Law Firm of the Year.
David Prior
David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.
