The South West offices of national law firm Clarke Willmott LLP have once again ranked highly in this year’s Legal 500 guide, with numerous practice areas and individual lawyers being recognised.
Clarke Willmott’s offices in Bristol and Taunton were named in the top tier of the prestigious guide in eight practice areas: debt recovery; employment; personal injury – claimant; professional negligence; family; personal tax, trusts and probate; property litigation; and sport.
The guide, which ranks the UK’s top lawyers and firms, recommended Clarke Willmott’s Bristol and Taunton offices in a further 18 practice areas.
Clarke Willmott South West partner Alex Jakubowski was once again named in the elite ‘Hall of Fame’ list and this year South West’s Gareth Schofield was a new inductee. Two further Clarke Willmott lawyers also made the cut.
Meanwhile across Bristol and Taunton an impressive 15 lawyers were named as ‘Leading Partners’, five were named as ‘Leading Associates’ and a further eight were named as ‘Next Generation Partners’.
Clarke Willmott CEO, Peter Swinburn, said: “We are delighted with the firm’s strong performance in the Legal 500 2026 rankings, which represents a significant step forward from last year’s already impressive results. These rankings are an important independent benchmark of quality and service in our profession, and this year’s outcome is a clear reflection of the outstanding talent, commitment and professionalism of our lawyers across every department.”
Nationally, Clarke Willmott received the top ranking possible for 10 of its specialist practice areas and in total was ranked in 52 practice areas across all of its seven regional offices.
New rankings are listed for banking and finance in the West Midlands; planning in London; and construction in Wales. Additionally, there were improved rankings for personal injury in West Midlands and for commercial property in the West Midlands and Wales.
Individually, Clarke Willmott’s lawyers received a total of 170 recommendations, of which seven were improved on from last year, and 41 were new recommendations for the 2026 edition.
Head of Clarke Willmott’s Bristol office, Clare Webb, said: “It is great to see that we have continued to build on our success in recent years and that the depth of expertise within the firm has been recognised with rankings across numerous practice areas. Our clients continue to place trust and confidence in us, which speaks to both the breadth and consistency of the services we deliver.”
Head of Clarke Willmott’s Taunton office, Kirill Bingham, said: “Recognition is always welcome, particularly for our 170 individually recommended people, who are at the heart of the firm and who continue to strive for excellence in meeting the evolving needs of our clients.”
The Legal 500 series is widely acknowledged as the world’s largest legal guide. It is an independent guide and firms and individuals are recommended purely on merit.
Clarke Willmott LLP is one of the UK’s leading law firms with offices in Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton and Taunton. Clarke Willmott provides support on a broad range of legal services to individuals and businesses, with a focus on the most involved and complex matters.
Last year the firm celebrated its 135th anniversary and this year it marked milestones with the 20-year anniversary of the Birmingham office, 15-year anniversary of the Manchester office and 10-year anniversary of the Cardiff office.
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