Strength in numbers

This year, Kent’s top three performing law firms remain the same. Cripps tops the table, followed by Tunbridge Wells neighbour Thomson Snell & Passmore, then Brachers LLP.

The fact that Cripps continues to top the table, and by wide margin at that, isn’t to the discredit of Kent’s other, highly rated, law firms.

Cripps performance is underpinned by the firm’s size and breadth. It is a full-service law firm with more than 400 employees.

That makes it almost twice the size of Thomson Snell & Passmore and much larger than Brachers and Furley Page.

It is bigger than many of the London offices of US law firms. Cripps is more like a mid-sized City of London law firm, that happens to be based in Kent, than its local rivals.

And, when broken down into practice areas, there are many excellent departments across the county. Thomson Snell & Passmore, for example, received high rankings from both directories for its family wealth and private client work, and is also top ranked by Chambers & Partners for its agriculture practice.

Knights is top ranked by Chambers & Partners for property litigation while Brachers is top ranked by The Legal 500 for debt recovery.

It is also worth noting that, while Cripps features in both directories, some Kent firms are more prominent in one than the other. For example, Brachers is highly rated by Chambers & Partners but features less in The Legal 500. Meanwhile, some of the county’s smaller law firms don’t make it to Chambers & Partners, but get a mention in the Legal 500.

This demonstrates the value of a guide that incorporates both directories.

It is also worth remembering that, while the directories have been around since the 1980s, the firms on the top of the table have been providing legal services to business people and private clients in Kent for much longer than that. Thomson Snell & Passmore was founded in 1570, making it officially the oldest law firm still in operation, while Furley Page traces its business back to the 1700s.

Cripps and Brachers are relative newcomers, both having been founded in the 19th century.

In short, the table demonstrates the stability of Kent’s legal scene, while, when viewed in a more granular manner, highlights standout departments and practices from across the county.