Litigation tracker: Clyde & Co tops QBD court rankings

Clyde & Co was the most active law firm in the Queen’s Bench Division (QBD) of the High Court in 2015 and the first three quarters of 2016, according to data compiled by The Lawyer.

Clyde & Co spent 103 days at the court while Slater & Gordon, in second place, spent 90 days. DAC Beachcroft spent 85 days in court while Kennedys Law spent 82 days and Weightmans 72 days.

These rankings are based on recorded judgments tracked in The Lawyer Litigation Tracker, a live database of more than 6,000 recorded judgments in English and Singaporean courts.

The Lawyer Litigation Tracker includes 505 recorded judgments in the QBD.

Clyde & Co took the top spot by representing clients on 20 cases. The longest was a 30-day case representing the Essex Police Authority against D&G Cars Ltd.

The second longest was an 18-day case in which it represented Sonae Industria against personal injury claims filed by residents affected by a fire at one of the company’s manufacturing facilities.

In 17 of its 20 cases Clyde & Co acted for the defendant. It represented NHS trusts in seven cases, individuals in seven cases, local authorities in three cases and companies in three cases.

Slater & Gordon took second place in the rankings despite only working on ten cases. It racked up 48 of its 90 days in court when representing two former police officers in a claim against South Wales Police. It also represented four police offices in an 18-day case against three individuals.

In third place, DAC Beachcroft spent 85 days at the QBD across 23 cases. It represented NHS trusts or other NHS organisations in 16 of these cases.

Some 368 law firms represented clients at the QBD in 2015 and the first three quarters of 2016. 222, or 60 per cent of these, only made one appearance.