Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co has topped the Aim client rankings with Pinsent Masons for the first time, ahead of its 2016 merger with Canadian firm Gowlings.
Pinsent Masons has historically dominated the tables published by Adviser Rankings, with the firm having maintained its lead over the past year.
However, Wragges gained 20 new Aim clients since July 2015 bringing it level with Pinsent Masons’ total of 59. The new clients, which include AFH Financial Group, Diamondcorp and Tavistock Investments, follow the addition of nine Gowlings corporate lawyers in London ahead of the two firms’ combination next January.
Wragges also topped the table in terms of the market cap of its clients, despite its cap dropping 24 per cent from £7.5bn to £5.7bn. The decline has enabled second-place DLA Piper to close the gap between the two firms, with the collective market-worth of its roster increasing by 14 per cent to £5.6bn.
As well as performing well in the client market cap rankings, DLA Piper additionally picked up four new Aim clients, helping it to jump into the top five adviser table behind Wragges, Pinsents, Carey Olsen and Memery Crystal. It also displaced Wragges in terms of the number of FTSE Aim 100 clients it acts for, seeing it surge forward from fourth place to the top of the chart.
Like Wragges, Charles Russell Speechlys is another firm to have benefited from a merger, moving up from fourteenth place to eleventh after adding two new Aim clients. However, a number of firms have also fallen several positions down the table, notably Fasken Martineau, which lost three Aim clients and dropped out of the top 10 to joint fourteenth place. The firm is currently in the midst of an internal consultation that could see it cut 70 positions from London.
The magic circle are again absent from the Aim client rankings, while firms such as Hogan Lovells and Norton Rose Fulbright have made their debut on the FTSE Aim 100 table. Both firms have three clients, seeing them move into the top 20 table in terms of client market cap.
| Total Aim clients | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank October ’15 | Rank July ’15 | Firm | Total clients October ’15 | Total clients July ’15 |
| 1= | 1 | Pinsent Masons | 59 | 59 |
| 1= | 4 | Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co | 59 | 39 |
| 3= | 2 | Carey Olsen | 41 | 42 |
| 3= | 3 | Memery Crystal | 41 | 40 |
| 5 | 6 | DLA Piper | 38 | 34 |
| 6 | 5 | Kerman & Co | 37 | 37 |
| 7= | 7= | Berwin Leighton Paisner | 32 | 32 |
| 7= | 7= | Appleby | 32 | 32 |
| 9 | 7= | Stephenson Harwood | 30 | 32 |
| 10 | 11 | Norton Rose Fulbright | 29 | 28 |
| 11= | 14 | Charles Russell Speechlys | 28 | 26 |
| 11= | 12= | Eversheds | 28 | 27 |
| 13 | 12= | Fieldfisher | 27 | 27 |
| 14= | 10 | Fasken Martineau | 26 | 29 |
| 14= | 14 | Osborne Clarke | 26 | 26 |
| 16= | 16 | DWF | 25 | 25 |
| 16= | 17 | Travers Smith | 25 | 23 |
| 18= | 18= | Fladgate | 22 | 22 |
| 18= | 18= | Squire Patton Boggs | 22 | 22 |
| 20= | N/A | Dentons | 19 | N/A |
| 20= | N/A | Nabarro | 19 | N/A |
| 20= | N/A | Ronaldsons | 19 | N/A |
| 23= | N/A | K&L Gates | 18 | N/A |
| 23= | N/A | Watson Farley & Williams | 18 | N/A |
| 25= | N/A | Taylor Wessing | 17 | N/A |
| FTSE 100 Aim clients | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank October ’15 | Rank July ’15 | Firm | Total clients October ’15 | Total clients July ’15 |
| 1 | 4= | DLA Piper | 8 | 6 |
| 2= | 4= | Osborne Clarke | 7 | 6 |
| 2= | 1= | Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co | 7 | 8 |
| 4= | 3 | Addleshaw Goddard | 6 | 7 |
| 4= | 1= | Pinsent Masons | 6 | 8 |
| 6 | 7= | Carey Olsen | 5 | 4 |
| 7= | 7= | Bird & Bird | 4 | 4 |
| 7= | 7= | Covington & Burling | 4 | 4 |
| 7= | 6 | Eversheds | 4 | 5 |
| 7= | 7= | Herbert Smith Freehills | 4 | 4 |
| 11= | 12= | DWF | 3 | 3 |
| 11= | N/A | Hogan Lovells International | 3 | N/A |
| 11= | 12= | King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin | 3 | 3 |
| 11= | N/A | Norton Rose Fulbright | 3 | N/A |
| 11= | 12= | Ogier | 3 | 3 |
| 11= | 12= | Olswang | 3 | 3 |
| 11= | 12= | Slaughter and May | 3 | 3 |
