Wake Smith Solicitors’ expertise in clinical negligence and commercial litigation has earned the company increased rankings by organisers of the national benchmark for the best of the legal profession.
Terry Regan’s team at Wake Smith was seen by analysts from The Legal 500 2017 as a go-to firm for clinical negligence matters in Sheffield and South Yorkshire with advice always precise and well set out.
Also moving up the rankings was the Sheffield firm’s commercial litigation team headed up by practice head Nick Lambert, which has a longstanding reputation in the market, both teams now rank in the second to highest tier in the Legal 500 rankings.
Wake Smith’s family law team, headed by the ‘very approachable, extremely efficient, organised and diligent’ Lindsey Canning attracted praise for its ‘empathetic and practical’ service and ‘exceptional value for money’ in its first ever appearance in the recommendations.
The established Sheffield-based company features in 12 practice areas for the Yorkshire and Humber region including corporate and commercial; dispute resolution - commercial litigation; banking and finance; human resources - employment; clinical negligence and personal injury; personal tax, trusts and probate; commercial property, property litigation, intellectual property and IT and telecoms and family law.
Wake Smith solicitors highlighted in the report, which ranks the leading law firms and individuals nationally and by region for personal and corporate work, included established individuals Mark Serby, John Baddeley, Duncan Shepherd, Nick Lambert, Liz Shaw, Holly Dobson, Neil Salter, Andrew Vidler, David Brown, Paul, Gibbon, Lisa Davison, Damien Donnelly, Terry Regan and John Vallance.
While fellow employees including newly appointed director, Suzanne Porter, Kate Lax, Alison Gaddes, Ben Spencer, Rebecca Robinson, Gavin Hesketh and Breda Cashell were also singled out for praise for their work.
Wake Smith’s experienced commercial property team, lead by practice head Neil Salter, was highlighted for its expertise in retail investments and regeneration projects; advice to landlords and tenants on commercial leases and to developers in acquiring residential and commercial developments; sales, purchases, and the funding of mixed-use developments.
The firm’s company commercial team boasted a host of high profile jobs while Wake Smith’s expertise in IP and IT and telecoms drew praise for work with national and regional e-commerce and IT solution providers.
Wake Smith Solicitors banking and finance team is best known for handling high-value transactional work for national banks and drafting bespoke facility agreements and security documents. Practice head Duncan Shepherd handles general banking facilities work and corporate refinancing, Neil Salter focuses on retail investments and regeneration finance and John Baddeley advises on property refinancing work.
John Baddeley, joint managing director at Wake Smith, said: "An increasing amount of legal work continues to be fed into the city from the South Yorkshire region and further afield. Wake Smith has won high profile instructions and continues to work for businesses and individuals with the interests of our clients at the forefront.
“Wake Smith has an exceptional team, although certain individuals have been highlighted in the report. We are delighted to see our commercial litigation and clinical negligence teams move to tier two in the rankings in recognition of the exceptional service that they provide to their clients and also that all 12 of our practice areas are now ranked in the region.
“The report highlights performance in 2016 however 2017 has seen the company continue to grow and achieve and go beyond targets, as our reputation for providing quality legal advice sees an increased number of clients turn to us for guidance, and higher profile jobs secured. For example, in 2017 to date the corporate team have dealt with over £80m of corporate transactions and this is targeted to exceed £100m for the first time.”
Law firms only appear in The Legal 500 ranking tables and commentary on merit. It is purely based on whether The Legal 500 researchers believe the firm is good enough for inclusion.
The Legal 500 is based on feedback from 250,000 in-house peers and access to law firms' deals and confidential matters, which are independently assessed by researchers. The resulting tables rank the firms, and also provide commentary to help individuals judge which firm might be right for them.
Wake Smith has been established in Sheffield for more than 200 years and employs more than 100 staff including 46 fee earners and 18 directors.
