Celebrating success in The Legal 500 FURTHER GROWTH
RECORD-BREAKING YEAR FOR FLINT BISHOP AS IT GEARS UP FOR
FLINT Bishop has announced its most successful year to date after a record number of its practice areas were recognised in
The Legal 500 - UK 2021 edition.
As the leading guide to law firms and solicitors in the UK,
The Legal 500 highlights law firms and leading individuals that demonstrate strong technical ability, as well as a reputation for handling complex, innovative deals and a clear investment for the future.
The Midlands-based law firm has been recommended in a total of 13 practice areas in this year’s rankings including, commercial litigation, corporate and commercial, debt recovery, employment, insurance litigation, licensing, professional negligence, property litigation, education, real estate, family, personal tax, trusts and probate and contentious trusts and probate.
‘TOP TIER’
The firm’s commercial litigation practice retains its ‘Top Tier’ status for the eighth consecutive year. This achievement follows another successful 12 months for the department, which represents large domestic and international clients in complex disputes, including High Court cases and judicial reviews, relating to areas such as fraud, product liability, insurance law and professional negligence.
The debt recovery department also continues to be ranked in the ‘Top Tier’ having established a national reputation for its volume work pursuing debts on behalf of large companies in the business-to-business (B2B) lending space. Over the past 12 months, the teams have handled almost 50,000 cases at the combined value over £100m. Performance is particularly strong in the business utility industry, providing live and ceased debt recovery for ‘Big Six’ firms and larger independent providers.
In addition to the ‘Top Tier’ rankings by The Legal 500, Flint Bishop is now recognised as one of the UK’s premier national firms for commercial litigation and debt recovery, having won all three major national debt recovery awards, including the ‘B2B Supplier of the Year’ award for debt recovery at the 2020 CICM British Credit Awards.
RECOMMENDED LAWYERS
Chief executive, Qamer Ghafoor, has retained his Legal 500
‘Hall of Fame’ status for commercial litigation, and is one of only two lawyers in the whole of the
East Midlands to be awarded this honour. One client testimonial described Qamer as “a tour de force: charismatic: clever, hardworking and absolutely client-focused”.
Chairman and senior partner, Andrew Cochrane, has once again been recognised as a ‘Leading Individual’ for licensing and leads a team that is noted for its extensive expertise in all aspects of alcohol and entertainment licensing, including the tenanted pub market.
A total of 21 of the firm’s lawyers were recommended this year, seven of which were recognised for the first time including, Louise Easthope, Paul Sabin, Nigel Partridge, Simon Brian, William Bowler, Natalie Badger and Freya Bradley.
Other recommended lawyers not already mentioned include
Nick Wells, Christine Owen,
Ian Beardmore, Raj Sumal, Jonathan Gilbert, David Miller, Martyn Brierley, Rachel Bennett, Kirpal Bidmead, Claire Rudkin, Kirsten Wood and William Harper.
STRONG FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE AND GROWTH
The Legal 500 rankings cap off another stellar year for Flint Bishop, which saw the firm post a record turnover of £15.5m (FY April 2020), up 8% on the previous year.
The last 12 months also marked a particularly successful year for new client wins, adding to their ever-growing national client base which includes a number of the UK’s leading names such as, Royal Mail, Heineken, Gazprom Energy, SIG and Autoglass to name just a few.
To manage the recent rise in demand for their services,
Flint Bishop has expanded into the West Midlands with the opening of their premises in the central business district of Birmingham earlier this year. The new office has attracted expertise from the surrounding areas, which has greatly broadened the firm’s legal capabilities, predominantly in the insurance litigation and commercial property arenas.
The firm reports that it is now in the midst of a major recruitment drive at both its East and
West Midlands offices and has already secured several new hires in recent weeks including, Ben Pickup (Partner),
Stacey Cox (Partner), Andrew Stokes (Senior Associate), Briony McDermott (Associate) and Phil Pearson (Solicitor).
CHIEF EXECUTIVE, QAMER GHAFOOR, COMMENTS:
“It is very encouraging to see that a record number of the firm’s practice areas have been recognised in The Legal 500 this year.
I am immensely proud of all my colleagues who have been noted for their excellent work and especially pleased for those who have been recommended for the first time this year.
“The success of our firm would not be possible without the support from all of our staff. I would like to thank everyone for their continued commitment and hard work that they put in on a daily basis.
“Attracting, developing and retaining the right staff is central to the firm’s strategy as we continue with our expansion plans in the wider Midlands region and nationally.”
For further information, email marketing@flintbishop.co.uk or call 01332 226 126.