BPE Solicitors again feature strongly in the Legal 500 annual rankings - improving its position in two categories while retaining them in another seven.

And a string of employees at the Gloucestershire law firm have been recognised in the industry rankings.

BPE's corporate and private client teams up have each moved up a tier each - corporate to tier one with private client earning a place on tier three.

Among the seven teams retaining their places at their existing rankings, commercial litigation and employment teams stay at tier one with commercial property plus IT and telecom in tier two.

Head of property Jo Bewley and head of commercial litigation Philip Radford have been named as leading individuals while partners Rebecca Maxwell (commercial property), Louise Grzasko (corporate), Riyaz Jariwalla (commercial litigation) and Emma Hickson (cyber and IT) were named as next generation lawyers.

Senior associates John Carter (commercial litigation) and Chris Aldridge (employment) have been named as rising stars.

Senior partner John Workman said: "We are delighted with these results. It is a reflection of the expertise and talent we have at BPE and the calibre of client that we work with.

"To have retained or gained rankings in nine different categories is a testament to the strength and depth of specialisms available to our clients."

Other team members highlighted in the listings include Anthony Rudge (corporate), Iain Garfield (commercial), Heyma Holmes and Sarah Lee (employment), Clare Young, Peter Tyrrell and Malcolm Emery (private client).