The Times is getting in on the legal rankings game with a list of the top 200 solicitors’ firms as selected by lawyers themselves. The newspaper says that it worked with market research firm Statista to contact over 20,000 solicitors and ask them “other than your own firm, which practice would you instruct in this area of work?”.

Immigration law is one of the 31 practice areas examined, although probably more from the business/private client perspective than the asylum or legal aid end of the market.

The survey is no more scientific or authoritative than any other legal ranking, of course. It does not, for example, say how many of the impressive-sounding 20,000 actually responded or how they were selected from the 140,000 practising solicitors in England and Wales. (The list does not cover Scotland or Northern Ireland.) The Times assures readers that “respondents were not allowed to recommend their own law firm, and there was technology and other scrutiny in place to prevent multiple voting”, whatever that might mean.

With that pinch of salt in mind, the firms commended are:

• Bates Well Braithwaite
• Bindmans
• Carter Thomas (congratulations Nichola)
• Charles Russell Speechlys
• Fragomen
• Kingsley Napley
• Laura Devine
• Lewis Silkin (congratulations Jo)
• Macfarlanes
• Paragon Law
• Wesley Gryk (congratulations Nath)

The full list of “Best Law Firms 2019” is here.