Top five law firms for East Anglia named in new Legal 500 UK guide

Editor Amy Ulliott says that leading the pack, Birketts and Mills & Reeve are the only two firms in the market with over 30 rankings; the pair also lead on individual ratings, with each firm having close to 90 lawyer citations across the Hall of Fame, Leading partners, Next generation partners and Leading associates tables.

Ashtons Legal, Howes Percival and HCR Hewitsons complete East Anglia’s top five – both in terms of total rankings and number of individuals ranked, she reports.

The Legal 500 UK Solicitors 2025 rankings – now live – show that almost 1,200 law firms have secured spots in the new guide, which ranks the best law firms and lawyers across the nation. The guide is also the first to launch on the newly configured Legal 500 website following a comprehensive rebrand in mid-2024.

Ulliott reports that East Anglia’s legal market “has continued to demonstrate its resilience following the challenging conditions of recent years.”

She says: “While a long-predicted wave of insolvencies is yet to materialise, restructuring practices remain steady in the region, particularly in the SME and mid-market spaces.

“Cambridge, Norwich and Peterborough have all seen notable real estate action, with housing, commercial and mixed-use developments dominating firm workloads.

“Firms have also reported a notable volume of work relating to biodiversity net gain requirements and other diversification projects.”

Mills & Reeve shares a top placing for Intellectual Property in the TMT section (Technology, Media and telecoms) with its team led by Mark Pearce. Head of Life Sciences, James Fry, is also singled out as “a key adviser to numerous global companies, among them GSK.”

Birketts and Penningtons Manches Cooper are in Tier 2 and Greenwoods in Tier 3. Mills & Reeve and Penningtons are joint top in Tier 2 for TMT Biotechnology.

For IT and Telecoms Mills & Reeve is ranked number one on its own with Ashtons Legal and Birketts sharing the glory in Tier 2 and Greenwoods the stand-out in Tier 3.

Corporate and Commercial rankings in the Guide are regarded as gold dust and here again the region’s best are highly rated: Birketts and Mills & Reeve make the top five for Cambridge while there are Tier 2 slots for HCR Hewitsons and Howes Percival.

In Norwich, Birketts and Mills & Reeve are joint top for Corporate and commercial work while Ashtons Legal, Birketts and Greenwoods all claim Tier 1 placings for Corporate and commercial work elsewhere in East Anglia.

Patent & Trade mark attorney partner J A Kemp is in the top tier for both TM and patent work.

Commercial property is a hot topic in the region right now as government looks to create a UK Silicon Valley in Cambridge and there is a renewed focus on lab & office space as well as more housing.

In Cambridge, the Guide ranks Birketts, HCR Hewitsons, Howes Percival, Mills & Reeve and Mishcon de Reya equal in Tier 1. Barr Ellison makes Tier 2 and is said to have climbed the rankings as ‘outstanding’ lead partner Kelly Peck spearheads impressive growth. Penningtons shares a Tier 3 placement.

Thee firms are rated joint top for Commercial Property work in Norwich – Birketts, Howes Percival and Mills & Reeve – while Birketts stands alone atop Tier 1 ‘elsewhere in East Anglia.’

In the coming days on our website, we will be going into depth on these and other major areas of the law featured in the Guide as well as our ‘Law Lords’ special print edition on October 10. Email tquested@businessweekly.co.uk for more details.