Top 20 UK Law Firm Brands in 2022
For the first time, Clifford Chance topped the UK Law Firm Brand Index. Compiled annually by Thomson Reuters, the 2022 index saw considerable reshuffling among the top 10 brands.
Clifford Chance rose from the ninth spot in last year’s index to clinch the top spot. Eversheds Sutherland kept its second-place position, the only firm in the top 10 to maintain its position from last year.
CMS ranked third. Tied for fourth were Herbert Smith Freehills – which posted its highest index ranking in the last eight years – and Pinsent Masons.
Rounding out the top 10 were DLA Piper, Allen & Overy, Linklaters, Freshfields, and Addleshaw Goddard.
From a brand perspective, the biggest winners in this year’s index were law firms that combined a solid track record of delivering results with deep-subject matter expertise, breadth of practice, commercial acumen, and sector knowledge.
“The impact of the pandemic and the aftermath of Brexit have weighed heavily on the UK legal market,” said Jen Dezso, director, Research and Client Relations, Thomson Reuters. “Now, UK clients place a huge emphasis on a law firm’s ability to grasp the strategic business challenges they’re wrestling with and are seeking lawyers’ skills in packaging commercial solutions.”
The UK Law Firm Brand Index reflects which firms are upper-most in clients’ minds. It’s based on data compiled from a Sharplegal market research study of the global legal market across 55 countries with more than 2,000 senior in-house counsel, as well as 265 interviews that were conducted with senior legal buyers in the UK. It also takes into account the views of an additional 141 non-UK-based senior legal buyers who were asked which firms they used for their UK-based legal needs.
Check out the UK Law Firm Brand Index and download the complete Regional Law Firm Brand Indexes 2022 report. Follow Legal Current over the next few weeks for further insights on regional indexes for Mainland Europe, Canada and Asia Pacific, and read about the U.S. index here.
