Coventry law firm named among the best in the business
Staff at a Midlands law firm are celebrating after their practice ‘punched above its weight’ to retain its ranking as one of the best in the business.
Coltman Warner Cranston was once again named in the top tier in this year’s Legal 500, widely acknowledged as the world’s largest legal referral guide. The Coventry-based business has now achieved top tier status in 11 of the last 12 years, and every year since 2012.
The firm is one of only two in the West Midlands to feature in the highest echelon of the Dispute Resolution Debt Recovery category.
“We continue to punch above our weight, massively,” said Darren Davoile, the firm's Managing Partner, who has 36 years’ experience in the industry.
“In terms of our achievements, the size of our clients – some of which are PLCs and multinationals – and the fact we’re a team of only 14 or 15 people. We’re just really good at what we do.”
“The Legal 500 is very important to us because clients will turn to that and look at where we are. Especially in-house counsel and in-house lawyers for businesses.
“The fact we’re top tier, and when you think of the size of the firms we’re up against - it’s huge. We were recently described by a client as ‘absolutely brilliant’ which is quite flattering really, but we’re just doing the job and doing it well.
“It’s all well and good getting there and achieving a certain accreditation, but often it’s harder to keep it. You’ve got to continue to do what you are doing well, if not better.
“The fact we’ve done that for more than a decade is credit to the team and I’m very proud of it.”
The Legal 500 has been ‘benchmarking law firm excellence since 1987’, covering practice areas such as corporate and commercial, finance, insurance and real estate.
Darren and his team, who work primarily with companies in the construction and insurance sectors, spend several months compiling their applications, collating various client referrals and testimonials, before submitting them to the judging panel which publishes its results in the October.
Top tier status within the independently-led Legal 500, which ranks firms and individuals purely on merit, is not the only thing Darren has a knack of retaining.
In all of his years practising, which encapsulates challenging periods such as the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic, Darren has never once lost a client.
“When I’ve spoken to colleagues and ex-colleagues, they have told me how they struggled to keep hold of clients in their previous roles,” Darren said.
“In some cases they lost one a week, depending on the size of the practice. I’ve never had to have that difficult conversation with a client, where our service levels have dropped to an unacceptable level. I suspect that probably is quite unusual.
“I treat clients’ money like it’s my own. I make it personable and I think clients appreciate that. I’m very passionate about what I do and I think that’s reflected in the level of service I and my team provide.”
