The Southampton office of national law firm Clarke Willmott has been ranked highly in this year’s Legal 500 guide, with numerous practice areas and individual lawyers being recognised.
The guide, which ranks the UK’s top lawyers and firms, recommended Clarke Willmott’s Southampton office in five practice areas: personal tax, trusts and probate, which was a new ranking; commercial litigation; employment; banking and finance; and commercial property.
Southampton partner Joseph Campbell (commercial property) was named as a ‘Leading Partner’ and Cathy Harris (commercial litigation) was named a ‘Next Generation Partner’. Meanwhile Rich Eldridge (banking and finance) retained his position in the Legal 500 ‘Hall of Fame.’
Nationally, Clarke Willmott received the top ranking possible for eight of its specialist practice areas and in total was ranked in 51 practice areas across all seven of its regional offices.
Individually, Clarke Willmott’s lawyers received a total of 131 recommendations, of which seven were improvements from last year, and 59 were new recommendations for the 2027 edition.
Richard Swain, partner and head of the Southampton office, said: “This year’s Legal 500 shows that we’re continuing to build on the success of 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 their trust and confidence in the breadth and consistency of the services we deliver in Southampton.”
Clarke Willmott CEO, Peter Swinburn, said: “The Legal 500 is 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.
“All of this is against a healthy financial backdrop which saw our revenues increase to over £68 million for 2026. Compared to many of our mid-sized competitors, we have an enviable financial position that increases our strategic flexibility to support both investment and growth.”
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.
For a full overview of Clarke Willmott’s Legal 500 2027 results, including our national rankings and highlights from across the firm, read our main Legal 500 announcement here.
