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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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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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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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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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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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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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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