The 50 UK law firms setting the pace
UK law firms with 20 to 500 staff, from City boutiques to firms across the regions and nations, recognized for how they have grown. Chosen and ranked by the VETTDD editorial team from Companies House filings, firm announcements and directory rankings, October 2026.
Stewarts
Law firm, London
Revenue rose 22% to £111.6m in the year to April 2025 and employees grew from 337 to 351, according to Stewarts Law LLP’s Companies House accounts. Revenue from overseas clients climbed from £27.8m to £37.3m, a third of the total. Founded in 1990 and focused entirely on disputes, the firm reports 23 Tier 1 rankings in Legal 500 UK 2027, and its business services team is shortlisted at the Legal Business Awards 2026.
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Fladgate
Law firm, London
Group turnover rose 18% to £88.8m and profit before tax rose from £38.6m to £46.9m in the year to March 2025, according to Fladgate LLP’s Companies House accounts. Average staff, excluding members, grew from 232 to 240. The firm does this from a single office in Covent Garden under managing partner Grant Gordon, and Companies House filings show new members joining the partnership in five separate months of 2026.
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Walker Morris
Law firm, Leeds
Turnover rose 14% to £84.3m in the year to April 2025 and staff grew from 423 to 434, according to its Companies House group accounts. The firm then reported fee revenue of £90.2m for the year to April 2026, up 11% and its first year above £90m, with net profit up 11% and 26 promotions. Walker Morris has done it as an independent firm from its Leeds head office, with revenue up 65% since 2020/21 on its own figures.
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Ison Harrison
Law firm, Leeds
Turnover rose 39% to £33.8m in 2025 and average staff grew from 326 to 390, according to Ison Harrison’s Companies House accounts. The employee-owned firm added offices in Brighouse, Skipton and Middlesbrough and bought Armstrong Luty in the same year. In 2026 it opened in Manchester and completed the acquisition of Dootsons, adding three offices and 27 people and taking its network to 30 branches across Yorkshire and the North West.
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Harbottle & Lewis
Law firm, London
Turnover rose 27% to £53.6m in the year to March 2025, according to Harbottle & Lewis’s Companies House accounts, and the firm reported record income of £58.3m for the year to March 2026. Revenue has more than doubled in a decade, from £25.2m in 2015–16, according to the firm. Founded for film and theater clients in 1955, it now advises technology, media and sport businesses and their owners, and its business services team was shortlisted at the Legal Business Awards 2026.
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Setfords
Law firm, Guildford
Group turnover rose 40% from £45m to £62.9m in the year to September 2025 and average staff grew from 151 to 180, according to Setfords Group Limited’s Companies House accounts. In July 2026 the firm launched Halo, a case, accounts and practice management platform built by its own technology company and used by all 650 of its consultant lawyers. It was shortlisted for UK Firm of the Year at The Lawyer Awards 2026.
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Digby Brown
Law firm, Edinburgh
Group turnover rose 15% to £53.8m in the year to March 2025, according to its Companies House accounts, and the firm has since reported revenue of more than £60m for 2025–26 alongside a record £215m in damages recovered for clients. Digby Brown is ranked Band 1 by Chambers UK for claimant personal injury work in Scotland, works from seven offices and promoted four new partners in July 2026 after what it called a record year.
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Harper Macleod
Law firm, Glasgow
Turnover rose 19% to £43.5m in the year to March 2025 and the average number of people employed grew from 347 to 382, according to Harper Macleod LLP’s Companies House accounts. In October 2026 the Glasgow firm said its headcount had passed 500, up 54% since 2015. It is shortlisted for Firm of the Year: Scotland at the Chambers UK Solicitor Awards 2026 and works from six offices, from Glasgow to Shetland.
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Brabners
Law firm, Liverpool
Turnover rose 12% to £60.2m and profit before members’ remuneration rose from £18.1m to £20.3m in the year to April 2025, according to Brabners LLP’s Companies House accounts. Average staff, excluding members, grew from 406 to 444. Led by CEO Robert White and managing partner Nik White, the Liverpool firm opened its fifth office, in the City of London, in 2026, and lists Regional Law Firm of the Year at the Legal Business Awards 2025.
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Stephens Scown
Law firm, Exeter
Turnover rose 13% to £31.1m in the year to April 2025 and staff grew from 299 to 305, according to its Companies House accounts. The firm then reported revenue of £34m for the year to April 2026, up 10%, with a net margin above 35%. Stephens Scown has grown at that pace as an employee-owned business and a certified B Corp since December 2022, with 322 employee owners across offices in Exeter, Truro, Taunton, Bournemouth and London.
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Higgs
Law firm, Brierley Hill
Turnover rose 13% to £25.9m in the year to November 2025 and the people it employs grew from 241 to 266, according to Higgs’s Companies House accounts. The same filing records investment from August Equity in November 2025 to fund growth through M&A. Within seven months the firm bought Vialex, Navigator Employment Law and McKenzie Law in Shrewsbury, and the Legal 500 UK 2027 ranks it in 11 practice areas.
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Flint Bishop
Law firm, Derby
Flint Bishop says revenue passed £43m in the year to April 2026 and that it has roughly doubled in size over two years. Its Companies House accounts show £26.1m of turnover in the nine months to April 2025, when it bought the Walker Morris banking recoveries team. In September 2025 it acquired Lupton Fawcett, adding 83 staff and three Yorkshire offices, and in August 2026 it opened a new Sheffield office. Chambers UK 2026 ranks 11 of its departments.
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Keystone Law
Law firm, London
Revenue rose 18% from £97.7m to £115.2m in the year to January 2026 and adjusted profit before tax from £12.7m to £15.3m, according to Keystone Law Group’s Companies House accounts. Its platform grew from 576 to 654 self-employed lawyers in the same year, while employed staff rose from 82 to 98. In July 2026, 19 of its lawyers were recognized in the Chambers High Net Worth Guide 2026.
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Harper James
Law firm, Birmingham
Revenue rose 25% to £15.2m in its last financial year, the firm reported in November 2025, and its Companies House accounts show average staff up from 111 to 126. LDC invested in September 2025 to fund technology, senior hires and acquisitions, and Chambers and Partners placed Harper James in Band 1 of its new SME-focused category for 2026. The subscription-led firm has set itself a £30m revenue target for 2028.
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Forsters
Law firm, London
Turnover rose 13% to £92.6m in the year to March 2025 and staff grew from 459 to 490, according to Forsters LLP’s Companies House accounts. In December 2025 the London firm opened a base in Abu Dhabi Global Market for Middle Eastern families and investors. It won two awards at the STEP Private Client Awards 2026 and is ranked in 24 practice areas in the Legal 500 UK 2027.
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Cripps
Law firm, Tunbridge Wells
Turnover rose 15% to £54.1m in the year to April 2025 and average staff grew from 431 to 470, according to Cripps LLP’s Companies House accounts, with the acquisition of PDT Solicitors adding an office in Horsham. In May 2026 the firm added the Radius Law team, led by former Mercedes-Benz UK Group general counsel Iain Larkins, to its commercial and technology practice. Cripps has been a certified B Corp since January 2024.
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Russell-Cooke
Law firm, London
Turnover rose 11% to £56.3m in the year to June 2025 and staff grew from 317 to 338, according to its Companies House group accounts, with fee earners up from 185 to 198. In the Legal 500 UK 2026 the firm says two more of its teams reached Tier 1, in London children law and South East private client work. Russell-Cooke has grown while keeping a practice that spans business, charities, families and crime.
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Ward Hadaway
Law firm, Newcastle upon Tyne
Turnover rose 12% to a record £53.6m in the year to April 2025, the firm’s fifth consecutive year of revenue growth, and staff excluding members grew from 375 to 413, according to Ward Hadaway’s Companies House accounts. Manchester revenue grew 42%. After the year end the firm opened in Birmingham and merged with The Endeavour Partnership on Teesside, taking it to five offices across the North and the Midlands.
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Gilson Gray
Law firm, Edinburgh
Group turnover rose 21% from £32.0m to £38.7m in the year to April 2025 and average headcount grew from 351 to 367, according to Gilson Gray’s Companies House accounts. Founded in 2014, the Edinburgh firm has grown by acquisition as well as organically, adding MHD Law and Practical Legal Solutions and, in May 2026, the Perth firm Wyllie & Henderson. It now has nine offices and pairs its legal practice with property and financial management businesses.
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Jones Whyte
Law firm, Glasgow
Turnover rose 29% from £15.2m to £19.7m in the year to March 2025, according to Jones Whyte Law Ltd’s Companies House accounts, with an average of 225 employees. Founded in 2013 by managing partners Ross Jones and Greg Whyte, the firm now has five offices from Glasgow to Inverness and more than 240 team members. In 2026 it was named Firm of the Year (over 250 employees) at the 23rd Scottish Legal Awards.
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Blacks Solicitors
Law firm, Leeds
Turnover rose 28% to £21.6m in the year to March 2025 and operating profit grew from £3.0m to £5.5m, according to its Companies House accounts, while average staff rose from 193 to 214. Blacks Solicitors has since been named Law Firm of the Year: Medium at the Yorkshire Legal Awards 2026, said Legal 500 ranked it the most recommended firm in Yorkshire, and is moving into larger Leeds offices to house a team of 240.
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Napthens
Law firm, Preston
Group turnover rose 19% to £26.9m in the year to March 2025 and operating profit nearly doubled to £6.5m, according to Napthens LLP’s Companies House accounts. The Preston firm holds four Top Tier rankings in the Legal 500 UK 2027, for North West commercial litigation, corporate and commercial, and commercial property, and for agriculture and estates, and has been shortlisted again for Mid-Size Law Firm of the Year at the North West Business Insider Dealmakers Awards.
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Excello Law
Law firm, London
Group turnover rose 23% to £29.6m in the year to June 2025 and the employed support team grew from 59 to 83, according to Excello Law’s Companies House accounts. The firm says it had 270 consultant lawyers by October 2025 and is not funded by private equity. Founded by chief executive George Bisnought in 2009, it added Hestia Private Client to its House of Brands in 2026 and is ranked in seven practice areas in the Legal 500 UK 2027.
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gunnercooke
Law firm, Manchester
Group turnover rose 16% to £86.9m in the year to December 2025, according to accounts filed at Companies House in October 2026, while employed staff grew from 77 to 85. gunnercooke reached that scale on a model in which partners run their own practices on the firm’s platform, and it now counts more than 600 professionals across 16 offices in five countries. Founders Darryl Cooke and Sarah Goulbourne still own and lead it.
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Redkite Solicitors
Law firm, Cardiff
Turnover rose 14% to £17.3m in the year to March 2025, according to Red Kite Law LLP’s Companies House accounts, and the firm reports £20.4m for its latest year. In 2026 it bought Alan Simons & Co in Penarth and CLA Trust & Legacy Planning in Cardiff, and the Legal 500 UK 2027 gave it a first Tier 1 ranking, for commercial litigation in Wales. Chief executive Neil Walker won the Leadership Award at the Legal News Wales 2026 Awards.
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Morton Fraser MacRoberts
Law firm, Edinburgh
Turnover reached £49.5m in the 11 months to March 2026, equal to the previous full year and annualized growth of 9%, while staff rose from 352 to 372, according to MFMac’s Companies House accounts. Formed by the 2023 merger of Morton Fraser and MacRoberts, the firm was named Firm of the Year – Scotland at the Chambers UK Awards in November 2025 and ranked second in Scotland in The Legal 500’s client recommendation research.
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Porter Dodson
Law firm, Yeovil
Turnover rose 15% from £15.6m to £18m in the year to April 2025 and staff grew from 170 to 187, according to Porter Dodson LLP’s Companies House accounts. The firm reported a second year of growth to April 2026, with 31% of new matters from new clients, and certified as a B Corp in July 2026 with a score of 80.2. It serves families, farms and businesses from seven offices between Exeter and Bridport.
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Stone King
Law firm, Bath
Turnover rose 11.4% to £30.8m and operating profit 24.3% to £9.14m in the year to April 2025, according to its Companies House accounts, with growth in every sector it serves, led by business and social enterprise at 19%. Stone King, founded in Bath in 1785, holds seven top-tier Legal 500 2026 rankings and three Chambers UK Band 1 rankings, and appointed Vicky Brackett as chief executive in January 2025.
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Muckle
Law firm, Newcastle upon Tyne
Turnover rose 8% to £20.6m in the year to March 2026, a fifth consecutive year of growth, and staff grew from 169 to 181, according to Muckle LLP’s Companies House accounts. The Newcastle firm, the first B Corp law firm in the North East, opened a permanent Stockton base in May 2026, won Corporate Law Firm of the Year at the North East Dealmakers Awards for the 10th time and is shortlisted at the Chambers UK Solicitor Awards 2026.
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Howes Percival
Law firm, Northampton
Turnover reached £41.7m in the year to March 2025 and average staff, excluding members, rose from 278 to 304, according to Howes Percival LLP’s Companies House accounts. In the Legal 500 UK 2027 guide the firm has Tier 1 rankings in 13 practice areas and a record 59 ranked lawyers, up from 48. Founded in Towcester in 1790 and chaired by Geraint Davies, it works from seven offices from Manchester to Norwich.
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Kuits
Law firm, Manchester
Turnover rose 20% to £19m in the year to April 2025 and staff grew from 167 to 174, according to its Companies House accounts. In May 2026 Kuits doubled its Manchester office to 22,000 sq ft on a 10-year commitment, citing more national and international clients. Its licensing and private client teams were ranked Tier 1 in the Legal 500 UK 2026, and the firm said it was ranked across all its principal practice areas.
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rradar
Law firm, Hull
Group turnover rose 17% to £28m in 2025 and staff grew from 249 to 259, according to rradar (Holdings) Limited’s Companies House accounts, which credit higher sales of its products and services and new IT platforms. The Hull practice pairs legal advice with risk-management software and training for businesses, and it was named a leading firm in the Legal 500 UK 2027 after winning the Herald Law Awards of Scotland Innovation Award in 2024 and 2025.
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Wedlake Bell
Law firm, London
Revenue rose 14% to £66.1m in the year to March 2025 and profit available to members grew from £12.2m to £15.1m, according to Wedlake Bell’s Companies House accounts, with revenue from clients beyond Europe and North America up from £4.7m to £7.3m. The Legal 500 ranks the firm in 25 practice areas, two of them in Tier 1, and its 2027 edition added new rankings in agriculture and estates, hospitality and charities.
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Signature Litigation
Law firm, London
Group turnover rose 14% from £23.2m to £26.4m in the year to March 2025 and staff grew from 68 to 73, according to Signature Litigation LLP’s Companies House accounts. The disputes-only firm, founded in 2012, is ranked in Band 1 for dispute resolution specialist firms in Chambers UK 2026 and was shortlisted for Disputes Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards 2026, and has four offices led from London.
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Capital Law
Law firm, Cardiff
Turnover rose 12.6% to £22.8m and operating profit from £1.2m to £2.1m in the year to April 2025, according to its Companies House accounts, while average headcount grew from 164 to 173. Capital Law, still led by two of its three founders, was shortlisted for the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards Europe 2026 for its work backing New North Litigation Capital, which funds claims from £500,000 to £30m and above, and supporting fintech startups in Wales.
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Acuity Law
Law firm, Cardiff
Turnover rose 15% to £18.6m in the year to November 2025 and profit before tax rose 64%, according to Acuity Law Limited’s Companies House accounts, with revenue through its self-employed consultant partners up 32%. In September 2026 the Cardiff firm moved to a new headquarters on Callaghan Square, reporting more than £750m of corporate deals in 12 months, and it was named Property Law Firm of the Year at the Insider Wales Property Awards 2026.
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Thomson Snell & Passmore
Law firm, Tunbridge Wells
Turnover rose 12% to £34.3m and profit before members’ remuneration rose from £7.4m to £9.1m in the year to June 2025, according to Thomson Snell & Passmore LLP’s Companies House accounts, while average staff grew from 263 to 273. The firm has since reported fees billed of £35.6m for the year to June 2026, its 13th consecutive year of growth, as Richard Ellard took over as senior partner.
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Lester Aldridge
Law firm, Bournemouth
Group turnover rose 9% to £30.9m in the year to April 2025 and staff grew from 324 to 345, according to its Companies House accounts, with client service staff up from 198 to 214. Lester Aldridge reported high demand across each of its business lines in the year. Tom Alder, a trainee at the firm in 2005, was elected managing partner in March 2025 to lead it from Bournemouth, Southampton and London.
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mfg Solicitors
Law firm, Kidderminster
Turnover rose 16% to £19.8m in the year to April 2026 and the people it employs grew from 197 to 217, according to mfg Solicitors’ group accounts, filed at Companies House in August 2026. The firm, which traces its roots to 1556, serves businesses, farms and families from seven offices across Worcestershire, Shropshire, Birmingham and the Black Country, and in September 2026 announced a move to larger premises at Brierley Hill’s Waterfront.
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Forbes Solicitors
Law firm, Preston
Turnover rose 12% to £25.6m in the year to April 2025 and profit before members’ remuneration grew from £4.7m to £6.2m, according to Forbes Solicitors’ Companies House accounts. In March 2026 it bought e3 employment law, adding three partners and offices in Manchester and Liverpool. Chambers UK 2026 ranks seven of its departments, three of them in Band 1: crime and employment in the North West and financial crime across the regions.
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Lindsays
Law firm, Edinburgh
Turnover rose 9% from £27.5m to £29.9m in the year to March 2026, according to Lindsays LLP’s Companies House accounts, with 322 employees and 54 members. On 1 September 2026 the firm completed its merger with Dallas McMillan, the first under managing partner Andrew Diamond, bringing more than 40 people into its Glasgow team and taking the firm past 420 people across five offices.
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Anderson Strathern
Law firm, Edinburgh
Group turnover rose 7% on an annualized basis to £38.8m and pre-tax profit 18% to £11.4m in the year to March 2026, according to its Companies House accounts, with average staff up from 321 to 331. Anderson Strathern added two lateral partners and five internal partner promotions in the year, its private client team won at the Scottish Legal Awards 2026, and it opened a permanent Kirkwall office in August 2026.
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Carson McDowell
Law firm, Belfast
Turnover rose 9% to £23.2m in the year to April 2025 and the number of people employed grew from 157 to 170, according to Carson McDowell LLP’s Companies House accounts. Founded in 1852 and describing itself as Northern Ireland’s largest independent law firm, it put a new managing partner, Orlagh O’Neill, and senior partner, Declan Magee, in place in May 2026 and is expanding its Dublin office.
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Anthony Collins Solicitors
Law firm, Birmingham
Revenue grew 6% to £30.2m in the year to April 2025, according to Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP’s Companies House accounts, in a year when the firm raised £900m for clients to fund 3,300 affordable homes and spent 23,000 hours on legal aid. Led by senior partner Matthew Wort, it raised its B Corp score from 81.9 to 101.5 at recertification and holds four Band 1 rankings in Chambers UK 2026.
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Stevens & Bolton
Law firm, Guildford
In the Legal 500 2027, published in October 2026, Stevens & Bolton says it won 54 individual rankings in the South East, more than any other firm in the region, with 15 practice areas in Tier 1. Its Companies House accounts show turnover of £46.5m and 233 staff in the year to March 2025, run from its Guildford headquarters. The firm says revenue has risen 61% in five years.
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Bates Wells
Law firm, London
Turnover rose 8% to £33.0m in the year to March 2025 and staff grew from 208 to 219, according to Bates Wells’ Companies House accounts. The first law firm in the country to certify as a B Corp, in 2015, it raised its B Impact score by more than 23 points to 140.2 at its 2024 recertification. It advises charities, social enterprises, impact investors and purpose-led businesses, and The Times Best Law Firms 2026 recognized it in four practice areas.
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Blackadders
Law firm, Dundee
Turnover rose 21% from £15.0m to £18.2m in the year to March 2025 and operating profit grew more than 64% to £5.8m, according to Blackadders’ Companies House accounts. Its private client team prepared more than 700 wills in the year and acts for around 650 trusts holding more than £250m in assets, and Chambers High Net Worth 2026 ranks the firm Band 1 for private wealth law in Dundee. Joint managing partners Emma Gray and Ryan McKay have led it since 2022.
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Vardags
Law firm, London
Turnover rose 15% from £18.3m to £21.2m in the year to March 2025 and operating profit from £1.5m to £2.6m, according to Vardags Limited’s Companies House accounts. Average headcount grew from 102 to 112, with fee earners up from 71 to 84. Founded by Ayesha Vardag in 2005, the high-net-worth divorce firm now works from London, Cambridge and Manchester and from offices in Milan and Florence.
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Howard Kennedy
Law firm, London
Howard Kennedy won Private Client Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards 2026 and was shortlisted for Business Services Team of the Year, according to the organiser. Its Companies House accounts show group turnover of £68.6m in the year to April 2025, 363 staff and a partnership that grew from 62 to 70 members. James Stewart was elected managing partner in 2025 to lead a firm built through a series of mergers since 1945.
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Spencer West
Law firm, London
Founded in 2010 as a two-partner practice, Spencer West now has more than 370 partners across 24 jurisdictions, according to the strategic report in its Companies House group accounts, which show turnover of £38.9m in the year to March 2026, up from £36.9m. Its employed core grew from 28 to 44 people, and in September 2026 it reported 14 Legal 500 UK practice area rankings, up from 10 a year earlier.
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