Pannone Corporate has been recommended as top tier in two practice areas and also recommended in a further ten practice areas in The Legal 500 2024 edition released yesterday.

Here are some highlights from what our clients had to say:

Commercial litigation 

“Direct partner contact, in-depth subject expertise and competitive rates due to its size and structure which makes it stand out in the Manchester and national market.”

“Pragmatic yet thoroughly detailed advice together with responsiveness and quick turn-around times – an invaluable resource for a busy in-house team.”

“Collaborative, responsive, thoughtful and with a deep knowledge and understanding of our business.”

Commercial property

“The team is very experienced and offers a personalised service. They are highly knowledgeable and able to represent the core interests of their clients without prompting.”

“A smaller team that offers a big company service and an ethos personalised to the needs of the client.”

“Valued members of their team and ours. They are always available and ready to answer quick questions and give advice.”

Contentious trusts & probate

“Sound, intelligent advice and support.”

“Exceptional advice and persuaded me to agree to mediation. This proved to be excellent advice and helped achieve a fantastic result, avoiding court costs.”

“Client-focused and provide realistic straight-talking advice in a manner clients can easily understand. They are very experienced around the legal issues but also have their eye on costs.”

Corporate & commercial

“Able to manage demanding and challenging stakeholders – always with a smile on their faces.”

“Highlights risks in a commercial manner. Doesn’t labour incidental points, a characteristic that helps keep processes moving and on track.”

“Always has a solution when required to get through a log-jam and able to manage diverse stakeholders to ensure a consensus solution is found.”

Debt recovery

“Pannone are very good at replying and explaining their process. We can call them anytime and they pick up – not the case with other firms.”

“The personal touch and the relationships with people at Pannone. They have held inhouse training at their Manchester office to help myself and my staff understand the legal process.”

Employment

“Supported several very complex cases and always quick to respond, giving excellent and considered advice. They understand our business and some of the difficulties we face and apply this when giving advice.”

“‘We have built a strong relationship with the whole team and no matter what the issue, any of them can be approached and you can trust that if it is not their area of expertise they will liaise with the subject expert within the team before providing advice.”

“Their employment law knowledge is fantastic, and they present this in a simple yet effective way.”

Health & safety

“An outstanding partner to myself and the whole business. Nothing is too much trouble.”

“Undoubtedly the firm to watch in the North West, buckets of experience mixed with in-depth knowledge of the regulatory landscape means the firm is going from strength-to-strength.’

“The class act of the North’

Insolvency & corporate recovery

“A very commercially sound and technically gifted team who provide an excellent service.”

“Excellent technically and commercially, and fun to work with.”

“Strong technically, very commercial, results-orientated and well-respected in the market.”

“A good communicator and always willing to take a commercial view.”

Intellectual property

“Pannone have kept up with us every step of the changes in our organisation, and their diligent handling of our cases has played a significant part in our organisation’s success post-pandemic. They are consistently a pleasure to deal with – no matter the query or the request, the team work tirelessly to meet our expectations.”

IT & telecoms

“Adept at providing commercial and pragmatic advice which comes from being experts in the sector.” 

“Manages to provide the right level of advice for our business without over-engineering it.”

Media & entertainment 

“Highly professional, supportive and excellent advice”

“An ability to see around corners…always my first choice.”

Property litigation

“A very cohesive and proactive team, which is essential to support our sometimes urgent and time-critical requirements.”

Notable individuals

Hall of Fame

Melanie McGuirk – Intellectual Property

Tim Hamilton – Corporate and Commercial

Leading Individuals

Amy Chandler – Intellectual Property

Amy Chandler – IT and Telecoms

Nicola Marchant – Contentious Trusts and Probate

Paul Jonson – Commercial Litigation

David Brown – Property Litigation

Melanie McGuirk – Media and Entertainment

Jack Harrington – Employment

David Walton – Health and Safety

Next Generation Partners

Gemma Staples – Property Litigation

Jonny Scholes – Contentious Trusts and Probate

Rising Stars

Sarah Bazaraa – Intellectual Property and Media & Entertainment

Arshnoor Amershi – Corporate and Commercial

Andrew Walsh – Corporate and Commercial

For those working in the legal profession, the Legal 500 rankings are an annual fixture in a firm’s calendar. The rankings are based on client feedback about what it’s like to work with lawyers, and which firms excel in particular areas.

As a firm, we rank favourably across the practice areas in which we operate and this is testament to our belief that our talented team is even greater than the sum of its parts.

We also believe in celebrating recognition for an outstanding performance, which is why it’s fantastic to see some of our team named in the Legal 500 Northern Powerhouse Awards shortlist. This shortlist has just been announced to recognise the lawyers, law firms and in-house legal departments setting the pace in the region, providing a platform to celebrate their achievements over the last 18 months.

The shortlists and winners were based on the Legal 500’s independent research for their annual UK Solicitors guide and winners will be selected by a judging panel.

We would like to congratulate our colleagues below on being shortlisted by the Legal 500 and look forward to the awards in March.

• TMT – rising star – Sarah Bazaraa
• Corporate – rising star – Andrew Walsh
• Private client litigation – lawyer of the year – Nicola Marchant
• TMT – firm of the year – Pannone Corporate IP/IT team

The Legal 500 rankings have been released, with Pannone Corporate once again performing exceptionally well in the annual listings. In total, 26 lawyers feature in Legal 500 UK commentary for their standout contribution to their respective practices. This includes:

• Three ‘Hall of Fame’ lawyers
• Five ‘leading individuals’
• Two ‘next generation’ partners, and
• Three‘rising stars’.

The firm’s practice areas also continue to rank highly amongst those within the profession. Pannone has top tier practice areas in TMT/ media and entertainment and private client litigation. A further 12 practices areas are ranked and recommended in the listings. These cover:

• Corporate and commercial
• Dispute resolutions: commercial litigation
• Dispute resolutions: debt recovery
• Employment
• Employment: health & safety
• Finance: insolvency and corporate recovery
• Insurance: professional negligence
• Real estate: commercial property
• Real estate: construction
• Real estate: property litigation
• TMT: IT and telecoms
• TMT: intellectual property.

Paul Jonson, senior partner at Pannone Corporate, commented: “Once again, the firm has demonstrated both strength and depth in key practice areas, by delivering high quality, commercial and practical legal advice to clients across a broad range of sectors and specialisms.

“We’re delighted to be ranked so highly across a large number of core practice areas with 10 practice areas featuring in tiers three and above.

“The team continues to deliver exceptional work for our clients and this is shown in the number of individuals who are recognised by the Legal 500 – whether that’s seasoned professionals, or future talent coming through the ranks. What’s always particularly pleasing is the number of positive comments that are made by clients, which feature so prominently in this year’s research.”

Standout comments include:

‘This company really does work together to get the best advice and knowledge to give the client the best service and outcome.’

‘Pannone are highly professional, committed and thorough. Very personable and highly experienced, they cleverly see around corners and help protect concepts, IP and business projects for the future. Good to have alongside any venture.’

‘This practice exceeds all expectations and always meets our needs in full. There are a range of specialists available who always deliver exactly what we need.’

‘They know what we do, how we operate and have made themselves indispensable. They see risks, opportunities and weaknesses that we don’t; they go over and above the brief.’

‘The team’s strength lies in efficiently making complex matters understandable and providing practical tools to achieve the desired goal.’

‘Pannone Corporate strikes nicely the fine balance between the big law firm capacity to handle a complex case without losing the small law firm responsiveness and personal touch. They work and communicate well as a team. High-profile commercial litigators.’

‘Pannone Corporate is a firm with an extremely strong presence in property litigation. They have an excellent client base in the North West of England and are strong enough to take on a wide range of clients from around the country. The firm has achieved prominence through building in-depth expertise in its chosen fields.’

The Legal 500 analyses the capabilities of law firms across the world, with a comprehensive research programme revised and updated every year to bring the most up-to-date vision of the global legal market. The Legal 500 assesses the strengths of law firms in over 150 jurisdictions.

The Legal 500 is positioned as the ‘client’s guide to the best law firms’ because it is underpinned by client feedback and insight about how a firm and its lawyers work. It’s an important benchmark, which celebrates our team, allows us to build on success and strive for continuous improvement.

The Legal 500 rankings for 2022 – highlighting the practice area teams who are providing the highest quality legal advice – feature Pannone Corporate in 15 areas of law, moving up in two corporate & commercial, and commercial property.

The rankings include Tier 1 listings for our contentious trusts and probate, media and entertainment, and debt recovery teams. As well as the teams’ success, three people were named in the Hall of Fame, the firm had six namechecks for ‘leading individuals’, two ‘next generation partners’ and four mentions for ‘rising stars.’

Beyond the numbers and fantastic recognition in the rankings, we’re proud to see all the feedback from clients. Here’s what they said:

Contentious trusts & probate

“What sets them apart is their ability to combine their knowledge of the law, the softer skills of client care and an ability to be direct. The clients I have referred to them are by the nature of the specialism in a highly emotional state and every one of them has been gushing in their praise of the work done by this team.”

Debt recovery 

“An engaging, tenacious team who are practical and efficient in what they do. They have worked with us and our functions to provide a seamless recovery service to suit our business needs.”

Media & entertainment

“Liaison with clients takes on a personal form and the relevant legal staff do not need reminding about issues. They keep in touch.”

Employment 

“Responsive, accessible and commercial practitioners who work with us, as the client, to arrive at the right outcomes for our business.”

Health & safety

“A new team but one with excellent experience and technical expertise with a dynamic can-do approach and a personable demeanour.”

Intellectual property

“…amazing from our first meeting right to the conclusion of my case, our first meeting gave me hope in a situation which I had long since deemed a lost cause… extremely empathetic to my situation and secured a settlement against a formidable adversary.”

IT & telecoms

“Attentive, personal and always available for advice and guidance.”  

Professional negligence

“Highly specialised firm with a strong track record in claimant professional negligence work.”’

Commercial litigation

“Pannone Corporate has lawyers at the top of their respective disciplines and a client base to match. Customer service is a key ethos at the firm with a high degree of partner involvement ensuring the client gets the service it needs. Electronic document management and searching ensures that key documents are identified early in the case.”

Corporate & commercial

“…adaptive and pragmatic in their guidance and advice. We completed three transactions with them and found them to be sensibly priced and adaptive in their approach to the size and scale of due diligence required.”

Property litigation

“Pannone Corporate strikes an excellent balance: they have the big-firm capacity to handle large and complex cases, but the small-firm responsiveness and personal touch. They have the flexibility and skills to manage cases that cross between different fields, for example real estate litigation that raises company law, insolvency or property damage issues.”

Commercial property

“The approach of Pannone and their staff is very much aligned to our values, what is important to us and the way we like to operate, Pannone recognise this and it’s reflected in the service they provide. It’s important when dealing with legal matters that a firm has the ability to tailor its service to work in partnership with its clients, take time to understand our objectives, the way we operate and therefore offer a more bespoke service to deliver the right outcomes. I feel that this is a specific strength of Pannone.”

Insolvency & corporate recovery 

“The team are always ready to help and have found innovative solutions to technical problems.”

Construction 

“All of the partners feel like extended members of the in-house team. They are flexible and accommodating.”

We make it our business to understand business – translating law into opportunity, growth and compliance for our clients. That’s why the Legal 500 acts as such an important resource to us as a firm. Badged as the ‘client’s guide to the best law firms’, it’s the emphasis on ‘clients’ that makes it so relevant to Pannone Corporate.

The Legal 500 rankings for 2021 – highlighting the practice area teams who are providing the highest quality legal advice – have now been published and feature Pannone Corporate in 17 specialist areas of law. This includes Tier 1 listings for our contentious trusts and probate, media and entertainment, and debt recovery teams. With two partners making the ‘Hall of Fame’, seven being chosen as ‘leading individuals’, two as ‘next generation partners’, and five ranked as ‘rising stars’, the latest Legal 500 rankings make for positive reading for the firm.

So, after months of detailed analysis of law firm submissions and thousands of interviews with GCs and private practice lawyers, what did they say about us?

Debt recovery

Praised for offering ‘the knowledge and ability that debt recovery agencies are lacking’, while being ‘extremely knowledgeable’ and always willing to ‘go the extra mile’, our debt recovery team is primarily focused on business-to-business debt issues but is also engaged in all types of debt recovery processes.

‘I have worked with this team for a couple of years and their responsibility and commitment to work is extraordinary.’

Media and entertainment

Described as ‘outstanding’ with a ‘deep understanding of how the media operates’, the media and entertainment team covers both contentious and non-contentious matters, with their expertise encompassing advertising and marketing, defamation and reputation management, as well as expertise across sponsorship, merchandising, social media, publishing and brand protection matters, among others.

‘I do not recall being more impressed with a team that I have not worked with before. Their work ethic, insight and dedication to the client make them a joy to work with.’

Contentious trusts and probate

The contentious trusts and probate team acts in a variety of mid- and high-net-worth estate and trust disputes. It represents an assortment of regional and national clients, as well as an increasing number of international clients. Acting for claimants, executors and beneficiaries in a variety of claims under the Inheritance Act is also a key area of strength.

‘Calm, experienced and well suited to high-value cases with a personal or emotional element… excellent at dealing with difficult or unusual lay clients.’

Employment

 Best known for advising clients on TUPE matters, particularly in the context of outsourcing and in-sourcing, the employment team regularly advises clients in the social housing sector on the TUPE issues which arise from local authority procurement. In addition, the department assists multinational corporations, large public sector organisations and SMEs on a range of matters, including HR support for disciplinary action, grievance investigations, and hearings.

‘A talented and highly responsive team of lawyers who have diverse backgrounds and knowledge and can give you speedy professional advice and guidance.’

Health and safety

The team deals with both contentious and non-contentious health and safety matters, excelling in the care, retail, logistics, social housing, minerals, manufacturing and food industries sectors. The regulatory practice is well-versed in the areas of corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, coroner’s inquests, food, fire and product safety, as well as environmental law issues.

‘It is good to have a diverse mix of core skills, which Pannone offers. Their specialist knowledge of the minerals sector is supported by the addition of a range of specialisms within their portfolio.’

Intellectual property

 Offering a ‘high standard of service and commerciality’, the team specialises in contentious matters, such as trade mark, passing off and copyright disputes, in addition to search orders and injunctive relief. Other areas of specialism include brand licensing, sponsorship and merchandising agreements, technology and patent licensing, as well as research and development agreements. Franchise litigation and disputes related to employee breaches of restrictive covenants are also key offerings for the team.

‘The quality is clear to see. They have strength at all levels. They are a top IP litigation team that can compete with any other.’

IT and telecoms 

The team is engaged in a broad array of IT contract work, including disputes, with specific examples including development, implementation, data centre, hosting and support and maintenance agreements. Further expertise covers data protection, software as a service, software licences and outsourcing, with clients including e-commerce businesses and providers of IT hardware and software, technology and applications.

Personal tax, trusts and probate

The team advises mid- and high-net-worth individuals on wills, trusts and estate issues and general succession planning matters, with particular expertise in lifetime tax planning mandates for entrepreneurs, prominent business owners and non-UK domiciled clients.

Experienced in and ‘well capable of dealing with high-value trusts and estates.’

Professional negligence 

The professional negligence team, which is part of the wider litigation practice, is primarily claimant-side. The team acts against a wide range of professionals, including tax professionals, accountants, solicitors, architects and surveyors. The practice also acts for defendants where there is no insurance or the insurance that is in place does not cover the .

‘This is a highly efficient team, which brings focused intellect and expertise to any case they are retained in.’

Commercial litigation

The litigation and dispute resolution practice handles a range of commercial disputes, with particular experience in the retail, industrial, manufacturing, engineering and recruitment sectors. The team also has a breadth of expertise in commercial, corporate, real estate and commercial fraud matters, together with professional negligence claims, judicial review applications and partnership disputes.

‘Collaborative, approachable and solution-driven.‘

Property litigation

The team, regarded as having ‘the resources and technical skills to handle all sorts of cases, up to large and complex High Court trials’, has a wealth of experience handling disputes such as nuisance and contaminated land claims, contested lease renewals and dilapidation claims, together with a record of work on guarantee claims and matters relating to breach of covenant.

‘Strongly recommended. They are a go-to firm for all kinds of commercial and residential property disputes.’

Charities

The team’s charity and not-for-profit offering draws expertise from our commercial, corporate governance, finance, real estate, IP, IT, dispute resolution and employment departments, and advise clients on a broad range of issues.

Planning and environment

The team undertakes contentious and non-contentious planning and environment work for clients, advising on criminal investigations and proceedings and environmental permissions as well as providing support to the corporate and real estate departments on transactions. Strategic advisory work is another cornerstone of the practice.

Commercial property

The ‘very professional and personable’ team works with a range of clients in the leisure, retail and logistics sectors, regularly advising on commercial property joint ventures and acquisitions.

‘Very good at planning the issues and helping clients to understand any problems.’

Corporate and commercial

The team is acclaimed for its ‘highly knowledgeable and flexible’ service. Its corporate offering handles mid-market M&A and private equity, while the commercial team addresses a broad variety of agreements, including manufacturing, supply and procurement, distribution, outsourcing and joint venture contracts. The team is particularly active in the manufacturing, technology, IT, retail and oil and gas sectors.

‘They manage to combine that quality and professionalism with a very down to earth and approachable attitude, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.’

Insolvency and corporate recovery

The team is highly experienced in supporting businesses and their directors through financially challenging situations and “offers longstanding experience in insolvency and corporate recovery matters.”

The practice is active in contentious and non-contentious restructuring work, with advice given to directors, creditors and lenders.

Credited as being “academically gifted with lots of commercial nous”, the team will advise businesses on exactly what to expect from an insolvency or restructuring process and how to best manage it, with clarity and support for directors to fulfil their responsibilities and statutory duties throughout.

Construction

The construction team provides clients with comprehensive support, which includes advice on contract formation and representation in disputes. The firm acts for both claimants and respondents in adjudications and is also sought out in arbitration and litigation cases. The team’s sector expertise includes power, transport and rail, as well as experience in contentious and non-contentious construction matters.

‘The small team compares favourably and even betters City of London Silver Circle peers for a fraction of the price.’