Norwich-based law firm Howes Percival has muscled into The Legal 500 guide’s regional heavyweights elite for East Anglia.

Howes Percival’s arrival at the top table turns a traditionally Cambridge-dominated Fab Five into a Super Six and further demonstrates that the region boasts London-class legal quality in greater depth than ever.

The East Anglia regional heavyweights named by the legal profession’s ‘bible’ are Eversheds, Mills & Reeve, Birketts, Hewitsons, Howes Percival and Taylor Vinters.

Howes Percival has invested in people, new offices and new services in the UK and as a result has grown year on year despite the economic downturn.  New satellite offices in London and Manchester have helped the team service these key markets, while a series of high calibre partner appointments has led to the expansion of core departments.

Insolvency specialist Nick Oliver arrived to head-up the London office and has already attracted some headline-grabbing instructions. The Commercial Property team has been expanded with a series of partner level appointments to create a specialist service for the developer sector.

This has led to new instructions from fund management and development companies as well as housing associations.

The Legal 500 guide (www.legal500.com) is the profession’s ‘bible’ and its publication today has been eagerly awaited by law practices and other professional services firms who work with solicitors on Mergers & Acquisitions and other deals.

In terms of both the leading individual lawyers named by the guide and the volume of number one rankings in the various legal disciplines for which The Legal 500 publishes league tables, Mills & Reeve remains the pacesetter.

The firm claimed almost a fifth of the leading individuals for East Anglia – 15 out of 78. And it broke its own record – set last year – by claiming 33 number one rankings for different areas of the law.

Taylor Vinters was its closest rival, individually and collectively, with nine leading individuals and 16 number one rankings. Birketts (14) and Hewitsons (11) pushed them closest in the league tables for number one slots. Eversheds and Greenwoods had six top rankings apiece and Buckles five.

The Legal 500 acknowledges that East Anglian firms have raised their game. It says: “In every practice area, the value proposition of regional firms compared to London firms is being exploited to the full, with the likes of Taylor Vinters making a push into London with new offices.

“The firm, which now has five partners in London, has also built a presence in Singapore through a joint venture with a local firm, which is feeding work back to the Cambridge teams.”

Mergers are creating bigger firms in the region – Birketts and Wollastons joining forces to create a new member of the UK’s top 100 and, more recently, Kester Cunningham John and Ashton Graham teeing up an alliance that takes effect on October 1.

The Legal 500 notes: “The biggest expansion story, however, remains the aggressive strategy of Birketts, which has taken over popular Chelmsford firm Wollastons, giving it an even stronger regional presence across four offices. It continues to grow its presence in Cambridge, where it has moved to new, larger premises in order to accommodate more lawyers.

“Nevertheless, in East Anglia that story could be overshadowed by the merger between Ashton Graham, where Mark Merriam has stepped down from the managing partner role to be replaced by head of private client Alan Brown, and Kester Cunningham John.

“The merger is scheduled for completion in October and is set to create a new firm, Ashton KCJ, with many synergies and a very strong presence across seven offices in the region, unless some rationalisation takes place.”

One of the most outstanding accomplishments recorded by Cambridge based legal eagles has to be in the rarefied arena of barristers’ chambers where Fenners Chambers is ranked joint number one for the South East – geographically the largest circuit in the whole of the UK – and therefore clear number one for the East of England. It has literally raised the Bar!

The Legal 500 guide rates Fenners Chambers as a ‘sound set’ that ‘consistently provides high-quality representation.’

Elsewhere in the East of England, Buckles and Greenwoods, the two leading Peterborough firms, both improve on their performances of last year with more leading individuals and number one rankings. They have closed the gap on a number of Cambridge based practices.

In the intensely competitive South East region, covering Beds, Bucks and Herts, Taylor Walton in Luton and St Albans and Kimbells in Milton Keynes have had brilliantly successful years and that is reflected throughout their best ever rankings.

The fast-growing and strategically excellent Tees also rates highly and is earning kudos for an incredibly switched-on offering from Bishop’s Stortford in addition to its growing Cambridge presence.

Hewitsons adds to the reputation enjoyed by its Cambridge practice through a highly successful Northampton office, which nails down several number one rankings in its own right in the East Midlands tables in the guide.

Birketts, by dint of the Wollastons merger, takes a whole heap of bouquets in Essex.

• For the UK’s best independent assessment of The Legal 500 rankings for the region – the top solicitors for different legal expertise and the best firms – switch through to our epaper. The 32-page supplement will also appear in the print edition out tomorrow.