South: Moore Blatch and Coffin Mew commended by The Legal 500

Moore Blatch, a top 100 law firm with offices in Southampton, Lymington, Richmond and the City of London, has been widely recognised in the UK’s leading guide to law firms, The Legal 500, for 15 of its work areas and 40 of its solicitors.

Each year The Legal 500 independently assesses the UK’s law firms, recognising firms and individuals that are identified as leading experts and practitioners in their field.

Moore Blatch, the first law firm to establish a major trauma service, saw the clinical negligence and personal injury claimant teams once again be awarded the tier 1 rankings, the highest ranking afforded by the publication. The clinical negligence team is headed by recommended, ‘outstanding lawyer and critical thinker’ Tim Spring. The expert team, which includes former NHS lawyers, is praised as ‘exemplary and dedicated’. Eight further lawyers from the team were recommended including Maya Sushila who was listed as a ‘next generation lawyer’.

The personal injury team, who work in partnership with hospitals and rehabilitation experts to build specialist and expert care teams for clients, saw practice lead Damian Horan and major trauma expert Matthew Claxson both recommended.

This year also sees two new practice areas awarded the top tier ranking: the private client - family team; and real estate – commercial property team.  

The private client – family team are described as a ‘top drawer’ family practice praised for its ‘good commercial acumen and eye for detail’. Debra Emery and Katy Barber have both been recommended, with Debra, who leads the team, described as ‘thorough and robust in her negotiations, whilst being pragmatic and collaborative in seeking solutions’, and Katy who ‘is a reliable and thoughtful adviser’.

The real estate – commercial property team are described as ‘head and shoulders above the competition’ with six members of the team recommended, including Luc Algar who was also listed as a ‘next generation lawyer’.

Across the firm’s other private client services the personal tax, trusts and probate team was recommended and described as ‘excellent on all fronts’ with five members of the team recommended, alongside the agriculture and estates team with practice head and new managing partner Ed Whittington, and Philip Whitcomb both recommended.

 • The commercial services team at law firm Coffin Mew, which has offices in Southampton, Portsmouth and Brighton, has performed strongly in this year’s directory, ranking among the best firms in the South East for IT and Telecoms and Intellectual Property.

Coffin Mew is described as 'effective in achieving results' and an asset to clients, providing excellent service in all manner of work including procurement, system development and IT consultancy contracts.

The directory highlighted Coffin Mew partner and head of commercial services Mark O’Halloran as 'phenomenal' for his 'unique mix of deep legal knowledge, which combines with a pragmatic approach'.

O’Halloran's specialities include intellectual property issues, such as global brand protection, as well as hardware and software development, R&D collaboration deals and supply and licensing agreements.