Stevens & Bolton

Stevens & Bolton is a commercial law firm run from its headquarters at Wey House in Guildford. It acts for major international organizations, FTSE companies, owner-managed businesses, entrepreneurs and private individuals, with sector teams in fashion and luxury goods, hospitality and leisure, industrial and logistics, insurance, life sciences, media, space and satellites, sport and technology.

James Waddell has been managing partner since 2022. He joined the firm in 2001 after starting his career in the City, became a corporate partner in 2007 and led the corporate and commercial group for many years. His own practice covers corporate advisory work and corporate transactions.

Scale from a single office

Turnover was £46.5m in the year to March 2025, according to the LLP’s accounts at Companies House. The accounts record all of it as arising in the UK, though the members’ report says cross-border mandates across 62 jurisdictions made up more than 18% of revenue. The year followed an 11-month accounting period to March 2024 in which turnover was £38.8m. The firm employed an average of 233 people in the year, 137 fee earners and 96 support staff, up from 229, and had 50 members on average.

On a 12-month like-for-like basis, revenue rose 10%, according to the members’ report. In July 2026 the firm reported revenue of £46.7m for the year to March 2026 and said revenue had grown 61% and net profit 63% over five years.

Top of the regional rankings

In the Legal 500 2027, published in October 2026, the firm says it secured 54 individual rankings in the South East, the most of any firm in the region. It has 30 ranked practice areas across the South East and London, 15 of them in Tier 1, one more than a year earlier. Four of its lawyers are in the Hall of Fame: Keith Syson, Nicky Broadhurst, Jenny Robertson and Valerie Fogleman. A further 20 are ranked as Leading Partners, nine as Next Generation Partners and 13 as Leading Associates.

Its private client team was shortlisted for Private Client Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards 2026.