Howes Percival LLP is named as Leicester’s leading corporate law firm in the widely acknowledged Legal 500 guide to the UK legal profession.
The 2008 Legal 500, published this week, ranks Howes Percival above other firms in its league of corporate and commercial legal providers in Leicester.
Jit Singh, Howes Percival’s managing partner in Leicester, said: “This recognition by the Legal 500 – all the more important since it is compiled from the views of clients – reflects years of hard work by our growing team in Leicester. By putting our business clients first year after year we find ourselves in the number one spot year after year.”
Jit Singh is also singled out for individual acknowledgement in the Legal 500 as a ‘leading individual’, as is fellow Leicester partner Geraint Davies. Also named as praised by clients in the report are Leicester partners Matthew Talbot, Keith Gilbert, Paula Bailey, Mark Oldershaw and John Frith, plus associate Phillippa O’Neil.
The Legal 500 says “key player” Howes Percival has joined the East Midlands list of regional heavyweights “on the strength of client and peer recommendation”.
Top spots in the Legal 500 ranking are also secured for several Howes Percival teams in Leicester: commercial litigation; employment law; commercial property; and property litigation.
Howes Percival LLP also secures listings in the Legal 500’s league tables for corporate tax, where it is the only Leicester office present, and in banking and finance, insolvency and corporate recovery, personal tax, trusts and probate, and intellectual property.
Jit Singh said: “This has capped an excellent tenth year for Howes Percival in Leicester. The 12 months began with us winning the Leicestershire Law Society Firm of the Year, saw us named Company of the Year by Leicestershire Cares and now we are hailed the best law firm for businesses in Leicester.
“To be the leading Leicester firm for business - and to do so from a standing start in just ten years - means we remain Leicestershire businesses’ first choice for legal advice.”
The total headcount at Leicester went past the 50 mark in the past 12 months, growing to its current 56 which includes nine partners and a total of 27 fee earners.

What the 2008 Legal 500 says about the Howes Percival’s legal practice in Leicester
Corporate and commercial
Offering one of Leicester’s largest dedicated corporate teams, Howes Percival LLP can’t be praised highly enough by satisfied clients. Managing partner Jit Singh is a ‘top guy without an ego’ and ‘junior staff are also ‘excellent - competent, attentive, fully appraised of our requirements and easily accessible’.
The Leicester team acted on the sale of CS2 Group, which included a legal practice and consequently complex structuring and regulatory issues. The corporate and M&A teams have a winning combination of ‘quality service for a reasonable fee’.
Dispute resolution
Howes Percival LLP joins Harvey Ingram LLP at the top of the table this year. The firm has recruited property litigator John Frith from Freeth Cartwright LLP and construction associate Phillippa O’Neill from Ashurst LLP. The general litigation experience of these new members boosts an already strong team which acted opposite Eversheds LLP on an aerospace industry claim in 2007.
Finance
Keith Gilbert represented Bank of Scotland on property development funding for Henry Davidson Developments. Clients comment that he ‘provides an honest and commercial view and is willing to put in the extra hours to meet deadlines’.
A satisfied client considers Howes Percival LLP to be ‘simply an extension of my firm’s business’. We recognise the abilities of Geraint Davies … to advise office holders, directors and creditors.
Employment
Howes Percival LLP’s East Midlands team features Paula Bailey in Leicester and Graham Irons in Northampton who advise a vast array of employers including in the healthcare sector. The education sector was boosted with a new hire from Eversheds LLP.
Property
Howes Percival LLP’s commercial property team goes from strength to strength, attracting high-calibre new partners such as Mark Oldershaw from Freeth Cartwright LLP in Leicester. This propels Howes Percival LLP’s retail and development capabilities to a new high, already demonstrated by instructions to act on development and investment site acquisitions for investors and national house builders with an aggregate value in excess of £420 million in 2007.
John Frith brings the specialist knowledge in landlord and tenant matters which he gained at Freeth Cartwright LLP to Howes Percival LLP.
Intellectual property
Notable for his success in pursuing contentious IP matters on behalf of national clients, Matthew Talbot at Howes Percival LLP is a rising star. His cases invariably have an international element, are high profile and have groundbreaking impact, such as his victory in the Melton Mowbray pork pie case resulting in the EU granting protected geographical status to the pie.