Blake Morgan’s Thames Valley team celebrating top rankings in Chambers and Partners Guide 2022

The Guide, which recognises and recommends the best-performing lawyers and legal firms across the UK, also picked out 19 individual Thames Valley lawyers across the teams for particular praise – highlighting the firm’s wide range of specialisms and its consistent ability to deliver a best-in-class service.

A broad area of disciplines was recognised as the highest performing, with the Construction, Litigation, and Planning teams awarded the top Band 1 ranking.  There was special praise for the firm’s ‘well-established’ Construction offering, while the firm’s Planning team were described as ‘frequently sought out’ owing to how they handle Section 106 agreements and judicial reviews.  The ‘strong’ Litigation team increased their ranking from Band 2 to Band 1 this year, with a commentator praising the experience of the lawyers and their ability to ‘think outside the box’ to find creative solutions to clients’ problems.

A further nine teams from the Thames Valley achieved Band 2 ranking, including Employment, Planning, Social Housing, and Family / Matrimonial.

The Chambers and Partners Guide also recognises lawyers who are leaders in their fields of expertise. Of the 19 lawyers from Blake Morgan’s Thames Valley team ranked this year, seven were placed in either Band 1 or Band 2, and the ‘deeply experienced’ Christine Plews was singled out as a ‘Senior Statesperson’.  Bruce Potter’s clients supported his Band 1 ranking by describing how he ‘really understands’ the healthcare sector, while the Head of Blake Morgan’s Construction team, Richard Wade, was also placed in Band 1.

Alongside them in the top tier was William Downing, described as a ‘pleasure to work with’, and the ‘highly adept’ Zoe Wright, who was praised for her ability to quickly ‘distil problems down to the key matters’.  The ‘amazing’ and ‘incredibly user-friendly’ Paul Hayward was listed as an ‘Associate to Watch’ alongside Alison Wood, Madeleine Mould and Rachel Sales, while Nicola Diggle, described as ‘exceptional’ and ‘laser-focused’, was listed by the Guide as ‘Up and Coming’.

Across Blake Morgan’s five UK offices, the Guide ranked 41 teams as Band 1 or 2, while 63 individual lawyers were ranked – 16 of whom were placed within the highest band.  These rankings highlight the strength and depth of the talent across the firm. 

Richard Wade, Partner in the Oxford office and Head of Construction at Blake Morgan, said: “The superb performance of the Thames Valley teams in this years’ rankings is thoroughly well deserved.  These lawyers have worked incredibly hard to deliver consistently excellent results for clients and to creatively solve problems across a wide range of sectors.  Blake Morgan has once again showed through these rankings the broad and best-in-class offering it provides to our clients, and the individuals singled out by the Guide for their successes embody this exceptional service.”