- Senior Partner: Ian Evans
- Managing Partner: Patrick Gaul
- Number of partners: 155
- Total staff: 1169
THE FIRM Weightmans undertakes excellent work for clients who want a strong commercial relationship and who enjoy doing business with the firm. Its teams are determined to achieve the best possible results for its clients. This means not making assumptions about the client but truly listening and delivering a service which is relevant to their needs and which ensures they come back time and time again.Weightmans also recognises the importance of its people enjoying what they do in a friendly and inspiring working environment.
PRINCIPAL AREAS OF WORK The firm’s practice is structured along three business lines – insurance, commercial and public sector.
It has a formidable reputation and heritage in insurance litigation in which the firm is a leading national player. Weightmans handles all sizes of claims for many leading insurers and their clients across a broad range of disciplines and in all offices. From handling slips and trips to untangling reinsurance disputes, running strategic litigation and test cases, it provides a full-service to the industry and its insureds. However, the firm’s activities are not restricted to traditional measures. With designated rapid processing teams and third party assistance innovations, it is investing in technological and process partnerships to enable clients to deal with the challenges ahead. Key clients include Zurich, MIB, Co-Operative Insurance, AXA Corporate Solutions and QBE. Following the acquisition of the insurance arm of Vizards Wyeth, the firm has further cemented its London and South East insurance presence.
Weightmans commercial business comprises teams specialising in corporate transactions, commercial contracts (including IT, media, data protection and intellectual property), commercial dispute resolution, debt recovery, employment, real estate, construction and engineering, corporate manslaughter, health and safety prosecution and defence. The firm’s work in these areas has shown significant growth in the last two years and following the merger with Mace & Jones in May 2011, the commercial business has become a considerable national practice. The firm has added a strong family law and private client service with a formidable reputation in the market. Clients of the commercial business line include public companies, privately owned institutions and owner managed businesses as well as public sector and regulatory bodies.
The firm has a strong and fast growing reputation in the public sector market, acting for many local and fire authorities, all offering a wrap-around support service covering all local authority work. Weightmans acts for several large local authority consortia and help individual local authorities across the country. It also has specialist expertise in Fire authority work and is expanding its offer for schools and other education bodies. Weightmans’ Police Team is the largest in private practice in the UK and the only to be appointed to all four lots of the National Police Framework.
The team is renowned nationally for having expertise in matters as varied as misfeasance claims, disciplinary matters, defamation as well as contracts, employment and estates legal matters. Weightmans’ national Healthcare Team has been undertaking NHSLA clinical negligence work since 1998 and has been on the NHSLA panel since 2001. The firm’s Healthcare Advisory Team advises around 150 NHS clients and undertakes work on behalf of a number of consortia. The team consists of legal specialists with expertise in clinical negligence, healthcare law, mental health law, primary care law, NHS and public law, employment law, property law and contract and commercial law.