Stewarts is again recognised as a leading disputes law firm by The Legal 500. This year, all of its departments achieve a ranking, resulting in 23 departments being listed. The guide also recognises our lawyers, with 66 rankings across our specialist areas.
Our Injury teams maintain their tier one rankings across London and Leeds. Our Medical Negligence team is described as an “incredibly strong team with a huge amount of collective knowledge and a good number of superstars”. The team has seven lawyers ranked.
Our Personal Injury team is recognised as “the best personal injury practice in the country – superb lawyers, great resourcing and fantastic client care”. The team is praised for its “consistent empathy and kindness” by one commentator, while another notes its “respectful and constructive working relationship with the defence solicitors, which has helped keep proceedings focused and professional”.
Our Aviation and International Injury departments maintain their top-tier ranking and continue to have all of their partners recognised as a Leading Partner or in the Hall of Fame. The team is praised for its “rare combination of technical excellence, authentic compassion and a deeply personalised approach to client care – qualities that are often aspired to, but seldom realised in legal practice”. Cheryl Palmer-Hughes, who arrived in March 2025, is ranked as a Leading Partner.
Our Divorce and Family department is once again top-ranked for its divorce and financial remedy work in London and Leeds, with clients saying its lawyers are “in a league of their own” and praising them for delivering a “Rolls-Royce service”. One commentator describes the team as “the best all round team in the market. Bar none.” The department’s recent Supreme Court win in the case of Standish v Standish is mentioned.
The team is also ranked in the children category. One commentator remarks: “Their profile in children cases has risen exponentially over the last few years as a result of the experience and impressive understanding across the team of the approach needed to get the best outcome for their clients.”
The department’s expertise in this field is noted: “The creation of a specialist children team is innovative and recognises the different skills required for such cases.” Alex Verdan KC is due to join as head of the Children team in October.
Both teams are highly regarded, with one commentator noting: “Stewarts are highly sought after by the ultra-high net worth individuals with their specialist children and finance team adept at dealing with both areas in such a universally regarded manner.” The department holds 15 individual rankings in the children and finance categories.
Our Trust and Probate Litigation team maintains its top-tier ranking in the guide and is described as “technically excellent but remarkably down to earth. An absolute pleasure to deal with.” Another commentator notes the firm’s rise to the top, saying it is “involved in all the major cases both onshore and offshore in this area. It has depth of expertise and experience and a refreshing practical approach for clients.”
Our Commercial Litigation team remains top-ranked in Leeds and is included in the Premium category in London. One commentator notes: “Broadly acknowledged as a market leader, Stewarts has an excellent practice in class actions and litigation.” The team is also praised as being “easy to work with and commercial in approach; hard working with an excellent team of associates”.
“Stewarts is one of the standout firms in the group litigation space and an obvious choice for claimants,” says one commentator of our tier one-ranked Group Litigation team. The team is described as “probably the most experienced claimant-side securities group claim firm”. Another says: “Stewarts are one of the most tenacious firms in London, attracting co-counsel opportunities from within the UK and from overseas. Impressing (and attracting) fellow professionals is a clear badge of honour in an increasingly crowded group litigation marketplace.”
The Banking Litigation category also mentions our Securities Litigation team in tier two, with Sophie Lalor-Harbord joining our team of ranked partners in the guide. The team is “universally acknowledged as a market leader,” with one commentator describing Stewarts as having “an excellent practice in banking class actions and litigation”. Another mentions its size and specialist nature: “Stewarts is a specialist litigation firm which is large enough to be sufficiently resourced for disputes of any size and complexity, but at the same is small enough to be nimble and flexible.”
Continuing with our Commercial Disputes disciplines, our Fraud team is also ranked in tier two again this year. Described as being “focused on outcomes rather than processes or specific jurisdictions,” and lauded for its collaboration, one comment notes: “This is a very strong litigation team where each lawyer is valuable and can deliver a seamless product in the biggest of cases.”
Also maintaining its tier two ranking is our Policyholder Disputes department. With all of its partners either ranked as Leading or Next Generation Partners, the team is praised as having “exceptional knowledge in this area and in the short time they have existed have litigated some leading cases”.
Competition Litigation maintains its tier two ranking this year, being described as “the best competition litigation team in the market, on the claimant side. Led brilliantly by Kate Pollock, who is outstanding.” The team is praised for being “highly knowledgeable, very friendly, enjoyable to work with, and they appear to value a wide range of diverse opinions”.
Our International Arbitration department moves to tier three in this year’s guide. One quote says: “Stewarts provides one of the most impressive international arbitration offerings on the market. Expertise, skills, client sensitivity, and a wonderful team to work with. Highly dedicated and knowledgeable.”
The team, led by Sherina Petit, is noted for its experience in India, Latin America and Middle East-related matters. The team welcomed Rovine Chandrasekera earlier this year as Partner and Head of Middle East to further strengthen this expertise. Dan Wilmot is ranked this year as a Next Generation partner in the International Arbitration category, and Alejandro Garcia is ranked as a Leading Partner for investor-state arbitrations in the Public International Law category. Nishant Nath Singh also receives a ranking as a Leading Associate.
Tax Litigation is ranked in tier three, praised for having “excellent strength in depth across all areas of tax”. The team includes newly promoted Anastasia Nourescu and Giles Salmond, who achieves a ranking in the related VAT and Indirect Tax category. The team is described as “one of the best tax litigation teams around” and “an excellent firm with all the expertise required, they are simple to deal with, efficient and to the point”.
Described as an “outstanding team for high value employment litigation” with “high quality lawyers throughout the department”, our Employment team maintains its tier four ranking in the 2026 guide for senior executive work. Partners Joe Lappin and Charlie Thompson are both ranked, Joe being described as having “excellent technical abilities” and being “strategic and thoughtful”, with Charlie praised for being an “expert in his area but also very empathetic”.
The Insolvency and Asset Recovery team is ranked once more within the guide and described as having a “practical, pragmatic approach with a commercial focus”. The team is led by Alex Jay, who is regarded as being “at the forefront of insolvency litigation and its intersection with fraud”. Alex’s fellow partner, Tim Symes, is acknowledged for his “excellent subject knowledge and a sensible commercial approach”. Tom Clark joined the team in September 2024 to bring asset recovery expertise.
Stewarts is also listed for Professional Negligence once more, having “a number of excellent partners across a range of specialisms, including professional negligence”. Led by David Pickstone, the team is regarded as being “extremely knowledgeable and professional. They go above and beyond to provide the best quality service. They are very dependable, detailed and responsive.”
Our full departmental and individual rankings in The Legal 500 can be found here.
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