Household names are among the clients of DLA Piper

“DLA Piper… continues to impress after becoming one of only two firms on the worldwide employment law panel of InBev, the world’s largest brewer,” says the Legal 500.

Other clients of the team led by Alan Chalmers include household names like Abbey National, ICI, Mothercare, EDF Energy and Northern Foods.

Irwin Mitchell’s team’s successes during the last year include advising Sheffield University on divesting its school of nursing and midwifery.

The volume of instructions from commercial organisations also increased considerably prompting the hiring of James Wright, previously of Macfarlanes.

Nabarro also increased its team with the recruitment of David Fisher, previously with Field Fisher Waterhouse, and Rachael Charles, previously with Hammonds.

The firm advised Pfizer on several hundred redundancies as a result of a global business restructuring; represented OCS Group at the Court of Appeal and advised Sheffield Hallam University on the transfer of pre-registration nursing and midwifery training and education from the Sheffield University.

Ranked jointly behind the big three are Sheffield firms Halliwells, Hlw Commercial Lawyers, Keeble Hawson, Taylor & Emmet, Thompsons, Wake Smith and Watson Esam and Richmonds of Doncaster.

Keeble Hawson secured several noteworthy clients in 2006, says the Legal 500, including Sheffield Community Transport, Propaganda Agency and the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services. The firm also advised a senior manager who appeared before a Manchester Employment Tribunal after being dismissed for allegedly making racist remarks.

The Legal 500 also highlights the work of Joan Pettingill, head of Taylor & Emmet’s employment practice, and Jay Bhayani, senior partner at Watson Esam, which handles work for the South Yorkshire branch of the National Probation Service.