WITHY King, which has flagship offices in Bath and Swindon, has been named as one of the major players in the south west by The Legal 500, the UK’s leading guide to the law.

Withy King retained its top tier ranking in seven practice areas aimed at businesses as well as private clients. These include Commercial Property, Employment, Family, Contentious Trusts and Probate, Clinical Negligence, Personal Injury and Racing and Bloodstock.

Commenting on the firm’s commercial property work led by partner Paul Daniels, The Legal 500 highlighted a number of "impressive client wins" including Bristol Water, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and Oak Furniture Land, and singled out solicitor Greg Callard and the partners Peter Foskett and Edward Cooke for particular praise.

Withy King’s employment team, led by partner Malcolm Gregory, was described as having "particular strength in tribunal work" with clients including Churchill Investments and Bath Rugby.

When it comes to private client services, Withy King’s Contentious Trusts and Probate team has been described by The Legal 500 as "one of the leading firms in the west country for wills and probate disputes" with a dedicated Court of Protection team.

The firm was also described as ‘excellent’ for wills, trusts for accident victims and inheritance tax planning.

Graham Street, Managing Partner at Withy King, said: “We are extremely pleased to have achieved another set of strong, first tier rankings with many of our other teams forging ahead too, building the breadth and depth of services which our professional and private clients are looking for. Moving forwards, our priority remains to consolidate our mergers and acquisitions of the past two years and continue to focus on organic growth.”

The Legal 500 showed that Withy King has also climbed the rankings in other areas, with its Corporate and Commercial teams now being ranked in the second tier and Construction, Agriculture and Estates, Property Litigation, Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution, Technology, Media and Telecoms, Personal Tax, Trusts and Probate all being recognised in the third tier.

The heavyweight guide praised David Cavaliero, head of Withy King’s Corporate and Commercial team in Bath, for building ‘excellent rapport with clients’ and his ‘good commercial focus and acumen’. Solicitor Rishi Ladwa based in Swindon was also highly recommended.

Over four million users visit The Legal 500 website each year. Researched annually by an independent and expert team, the guide is published in September and is aimed at buyers of legal services, particularly general and corporate counsel.