Birketts top while Mills & Reeve and Ashtons Legal also star in new Legal 500 rankings
The region additionally includes almost 500 individually ranked lawyers, spread across the guide's Leading associates, Next generation partners, Leading individuals, and Hall of fame specialisms.
The distribution of these individual ratings follows that of the firm accolades, with Birketts, Mills & Reeve, and Ashtons Legal again achieving the largest numbers, with 87, 74, and 47 rankings, respectively.
Business Weekly will this week publish a comprehensive interactive edition highlighting how our elite firms performed in the rankings. Online readers will be able to discover more and make contact, if they wish, through direct links to the firms' and lead lawyers' profiles.
Legal 500’s UK 2026 rankings have gone live following months of research throughout 2025. The placements and citations highlight the best firms and lawyers throughout the country, with this year’s coverage including nearly 1200 firms and over 13000 individuals.
The 2026 publication is also the first UK guide to be published with the new Legal 500 law firm comparison tool, which allows users to directly compare rankings, matters and lawyer accolades for up to three law firms.
With an active market driven by SMEs and owner-managed businesses, East Anglia also benefits from the presence of notable international technology and life sciences companies, as well as fast-growing businesses stemming from Cambridge University.
Real estate developments also remain a key source of work for firms, with a mixture of housing, commercial and mixed-use developments active throughout the region, particularly in Norwich and Peterborough.
Cambridge and Norwich remain the key legal markets, hosting a mix of national and local firms, with Ipswich and Peterborough also housing several notable regional practices.
Amy Ulliott, Legal 500 UK regions editor, and Edgar Tate, Legal 500 UK regions deputy editor, congratulated all of the firms and individuals ranked in this year’s coverage.
Founded in 1987 as the original clients’ guide to law firms, Legal 500 is now a data-driven, AI-optimised research platform benchmarking and connecting providers and users of legal services in over 100 countries.
Trusted by corporate clients worldwide, its research supports both new instructions and panel reviews, empowering buyers and sellers in the international legal market to make better decisions and achieve stronger outcomes.
Each year, its 150+ researchers and analysts review 60,000+ law firm submissions and interview thousands of partners, while analysing confidential feedback from 300,000+ clients. This unique combination of proprietary client data and rigorous research makes Legal 500 the only source of its kind for global insight into law firms, lawyers, and their clients, Ulliott says.