Legal 500 featured individuals

We are thrilled to say that Stephens Scown has once again been highlighted as a leading law firm in the definitive industry guide. This includes the Family, Commercial Property and Employment teams who have received the highest possible ranking.

As well as retaining the highest ranking in three sections of the 2024 guide, we have legal advisors ranked in a total of 18 areas based on feedback received from both clients and peers. In addition, ten of the Firm’s legal advisors have been marked for praise, whether as rising stars, or as leading individuals.

The Tier 1-ranked Family team again received the highest plaudits, with one client praising them as an “Approachable team that is strong for vulnerable clients. The private and public law teams have depth of experience.”

Such praise comes hot on the heels of the team recently being shortlisted in the LexisNexis Family Law Awards in the category of Family Law Legal Support.

Our Tier 1 ranked Commercial Litigation team also received extensive praise, one client saying: “The personal approach of the entire team we feel makes this practice unique, their key strengths being affective, clear, informative communication which even a non-legal mind can understand.”

The third of our top ranked teams, our Employment team also scored highly, with a client stating, “Each individual is highly skilled, knowledgeable and as a client you quickly develop a deep trust in their contribution and commitment.”

Three of our Partners retain their ranking as leading individuals for their excellent work, including Catherine Mathews from our Commercial Dispute Resolution team (and head of our Devon office), Laurie Trounce from our Corporate and Charity sector teams and Richard Bagwell, who leads our Property Litigation team.

In addition, Richard Slater (Commercial Litigation), Ellie Hibberd (Employment), Ian Thomas (Agriculture and Estates), Sarah Atkinson (Family Finance), Thea Bennun (Family Finance) and Kate Westlake (Social Housing) have been highlighted as next generation partners and Tim Lane (Corporate) is recognised once more as a Rising Star.

Talking about the results of the 2024 guide, Managing Partner Richard Baker said, “With the extensive research process that goes into the Legal 500 rankings based on the feedback of clients and peers in the marketplace, it is immensely rewarding to see so many teams and individuals once again recognised as being some of the best in the business. We know internally how impressive they are, and so it’s incredibly rewarding to see this reflected externally.”