Walkers' London office continues to enjoy its standing as the pre-eminent offshore law firm based in London and has been awarded a top tier ranking for offshore firms in London by Legal 500. In all, nine lawyers from Walkers' London, Jersey and Guernsey teams have been ranked as "Leading Individuals" in their practice areas.
Walkers' Guernsey, Jersey and London offices have had a combined 15 practice areas ranked by Legal 500 in the recent United Kingdom guide, demonstrating the breadth of legal services offered to clients.
The updated rankings from the independent legal directory have seen Jack Boldarin and John O'Driscoll from London named as Leading Individuals, along with Nigel Weston, Nigel Sanders and Jonathan Heaney from Jersey, and Sam Shires, Alison Ozanne, Louise Hall and Kate Storey from Guernsey.
Jack Boldarin, managing partner of Walkers' London office, said: "We are pleased to be, once again, ranked in the very top echelon of offshore law firms. Our London based team of BVI and Cayman lawyers continues to grow and we appreciate the support of our clients and peers in retaining our tier 1 ranking. Our London office has further bolstered our partnership this year with the appointment of Risk & Regulatory partner Sara Hall and Banking & Finance partner Mark Galazzi. London remains a focal point for the time zone-critical offshore offering that we provide to clients in the EMEA region."
All three offices have seen significant recruitment and expansion over the last 18 months, as part of the firm's strategic growth in Europe - in each of the offices, the number of lawyers has risen by more than 50% in the last 12 months. That strategic growth has seen partners Rajah Abusrewil, Sara Hall, Fraser Hern, Rupert Morris, Chris Reed, Nigel Sanders, Kate Storey and Leanne Wallser all join the firm's London, Jersey and Guernsey offices during this period.
Fraser Hern, Head of Walkers in the Channel Islands, said: "Our recruitment and growth in Jersey and Guernsey is the result of the support our local clients are showing us, as well as the support we are seeing from clients in London and internationally. The interplay between the Channel Islands business and our London business is particularly key, with our client base in London often working on multi-jurisdictional deals involving two or more of the six laws that we practice. The message to our clients is that we are unique across all offshore law firms in our ability to present market leading expertise across all of our laws in a coordinated and real time manner. The Legal 500 recognition of some of our key leaders reflects their market leading ability and experience. Most importantly, though, it reflects the skill and hard work of the teams that they lead."