Pictured above: Michael Ward

National law firm, Gateley has entered into the top 50 law firm rankings by revenue for the first time. Head-quartered in Birmingham, the firm is now ranked at number 48 in the industry league table, published annually by Legal Week.

One of only two new entrants to break into the 2010-11 rankings, Gateley's position in the table follows a successful 12 months where the firm has achieved a significant increase in turnover attributed to the opening of its Manchester office last Summer. Gateley posted the biggest percentage increase of any top 50 firm ranked in the table with fee income rising from £51.2m to £63m.

Commenting on the firm's place in the industry rankings, Michael Ward, senior partner in England said: "It's been an exciting but challenging year and our maiden appearance in the top 50 list is down to our increase in turnover as a result of bringing our Manchester office on board. Like most firms we have been navigating our way through tough market conditions but we have remained positive. We have maintained our teams and continued to invest in our people to put us in a good place for the next few years. 

"Earlier this year we adopted Gateley as our new brand name to reflect our national positioning and we made 34 promotions to strengthen both our fee earning and business support teams. We have also recently made a couple of new partner appointments to expand our media law and banking and finance teams in London. 

"Moving forward, we are confident we're in good shape for the road ahead and we're hoping it will be a busy year."

In addition to the Legal Week league placing Gateley has risen up the Experian Corpfin M&A and IPO UK league tables to number 8 compared to a position at number 20 this time last year. The league tables rank the top financial and legal advisers based on number of transactions and total deal values.