As trading conditions continue to be tough and with ever more local companies operating internationally, Human Resources law has shot up the corporate agenda.

Never has sound employment law advice been so desperately needed, for all sorts of reasons – whether companies are growing or cutting back. East Anglia has a plethora of brilliant employment lawyers, reflected by a major section in the latest Legal 500 guide.

Birketts’ team includes Jeanette Wheeler, Jolyon Berry, Matthew Newnham and Abigail Trencher, and is noted for its ‘continuity of care, reasonable prices and realistic advice’, which is ‘more focused than some firms’.

Recent highlights include a breach of covenant claim for insurance broker Tyser & Co. Sally Azarmi has a thriving immigration practice.

Charles Russell is praised as providing ‘good advice, and clear and logical strategy’. ‘Quick to respond, and flexible enough to change tack’, Tim Tyndall and Hilary Aldred act for local, FTSE 100/national, and international clients, including Johnson Matthey and a major high street chocolatier.

Eversheds lost Ian Mather to Mills & Reeve but Simon Tytherleigh retains key relationships with the likes of Royal Mail. Eversheds’ Owen Warnock is nationally recognised for his experience in age and disability discrimination; Constanze Hewson (‘responsive, pragmatic’) leads an international HRPG projects team; and Tracy Yates excels in immigration.

Greenwoods Solicitors has Peterborough’s pre-eminent practice, according to the guide, providing ‘City-standard advice at provincial rates’ and ‘practical solutions to complex matters’ for clients throughout East Anglia and beyond. John Macaulay heads the team, which includes Robert Dillarstone.

Hewitsons’s team is ‘shrewd and pragmatic: strengths not often combined’. Clare Waller is ‘clear and practical’; Valerie Lambert is ‘extremely attentive, and will always go the extra mile’; and Elizabeth Swinburn is ‘empathetic but commercially aware’. Clients include an international IT company.

The team at Mills & Reeve LLP includes David Mills (‘very approachable; he listens to clients’) and Gillie Scoular (‘customer focused, outstanding and time efficient’), and has been joined by Ian Mather from Eversheds. The MoD and Adnams are clients.

Roger James (‘patient, great at building confidence’) heads the team at Taylor Vinters, which is increasingly attracting international work, and acts for employers across the technology, education, equine, food and property sectors.

Rachel Flynn is ‘calm under pressure, and easy to work with’, and Jo Edgley is ‘highly knowledgeable, and results orientated’. Oliver Pryke left to set up Cambridge Employment Law.

Acting for regional, national and international clients, Ashton Graham’s ‘rounded approach is prompt, thorough and commercially aware’. The ‘dynamic’ Matthew Potter has ‘obvious depth of knowledge’; Julian Outen is also recommended.

Kester Cunningham John’s Ross Strowger acts for employers such as Network SI, and is ‘always available, efficient, and good value’. Hywel Griffiths advises many Cambridge colleges. Caroline Banwell joined from Barr Ellison LLP.

Buckles Solicitors’ Giles Betts and Christina Merrington increasingly attract work away from Cambridge. The firm defended multiple sex discrimination claims for a national chain of veterinary surgeries.

• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: Jeanette Wheeler, Birketts