The firm earned Tier 1 rankings in Commodities disputes; Trade finance; Insurance litigation: for policyholders; Media and entertainment (including media finance); Fund finance; and Shipping.
Seven Reed Smith practice areas rose in rank: Financial services (non-contentious/regulatory); Public international law; Employment: employers; Pensions (non-contentious); Transport finance and leasing; Private funds (including infrastructure funds); and Intellectual property: Trademarks, copyright and design. The firm won recognition for the first time in two new categories: Fintech and Reputation management.
This year, nine Reed Smith lawyers received Hall of Fame recognition for consistently garnering strong praise and for being listed in Legal 500 rankings for eight or more consecutive years.
Hall of Fame recognition went to:
- Claude Brown, Derivatives and structured products
- Lindsay East, Shipping
- Stephen Edwards, Media & entertainment (including media finance): Broadcasting and digital carriage
- Richard Gunn, Shipping
- Belinda Paisley, International arbitration
- Gregor Pryor, Media & entertainment (including media finance): Music; digital media;
- Richard Swinburn, Commodities disputes
- Andrew Taylor, Shipping
- Charles Weller, Shipping
These 29 Reed Smith lawyers were recognized as Leading Lawyers. Leading Lawyers are selected based on their contribution to their practice, strong technical ability, complex and innovative work, capability and experience; as well as their contacts at (and credibility with) top clients. Three of them were recognized in two categories.
- Alex Andrews, Shipping
- Gautam Bhattacharyya, Emerging markets, and international arbitration
- Chris Borg, Derivatives and structured products
- Tamara Box, Securitisation
- David Calligan, Financial services (non-contentious/regulatory)
- Margaret Campbell, Insurance litigation: for policyholders
- Peter Hardy, Insurance litigation: for policyholders
- Brett Hillis, Derivatives and structured products
- Marjorie Holmes, EU and competition
- Jane Howard, Professional negligence
- Simon Hugo, Securitisation
- Stephen Kirkpatrick, Shipping
- Bronwen Jones, Fund finance
- Ross MacKenzie, EU and competition
- Michael Maxtone Smith, Media & entertainment (including media finance): Media finance
- Andrew Meads, Commodities disputes
- Brigid North, Commercial property development
- Cynthia O'Donoghue, IT and telecoms: IT
- Belinda Paisley, Public international law, and international arbitration (Hall of Fame)
- Vassia Payiataki, Commodities disputes
- Gregor Pryor, IT and telecoms: IT, and Media & entertainment (including media finance): Music; digital media (Hall of Fame)
- Prajakt Samant, Derivatives and structured products
- Paul Skeet, Commodities disputes
- Jonathan Solomon, Trade finance
- Nick Stainthorpe, Derivatives and structured products
- Leon Stephenson, Fund finance
- Ben Summerfield, Commercial litigation: premium
- Philip Taylor, M&A lower mid-market deals, £50m-£500m
- Rob Wilkins, Transport finance and leasing
Next Generation Partners are recognized as “junior/new/younger partners who make a material difference to the practice.” Seven lawyers were dubbed Next Generation Partners (Sarah Caldwell earned two nominations), namely:
- Ildar Bagautdinov, Trade finance
- Colin Baker, Fund finance
- Sarah Caldwell, Derivatives and structured products, and Securitisation
- Elizabeth Farrell, Commodities disputes
- Adam Hedley, Environment
- Thor Maalouf, Shipping
- Alexander Sandiforth, Shipping
A “Rising Stars” designation highlights “associates who make a material difference to the practice.” The publication also named six lawyers as Rising Stars. These predominantly younger lawyers were:
- Oliver Rawkins, Banking litigation: investment and retail
- Suzie Savage, International arbitration
- Laura-May Scott, Insurance litigation: for policyholders
- Kyrstin Streeter, Fund finance
- Patrick Sutton, Emerging markets
- Lucy Winnington-Ingram, Public international law.
Learn more on the Legal 500 UK 2022 website.