TRADE magazine The Lawyer has placed Tunbridge Wells-based Cripps Harries Hall 91st in its annual top 100 law firms in Britain.

It hailed the company's "impressive growth and 15-year transition from a high street practice to a commercial outfit with a profit margin now hovering around 23 per cent".

The firm has 35 partners and around 300 staff. In the past year, turnover has risen 12 per cent from £15.2m to £17m with total profits up 23% to £3.7m.

Managing partner Jonathan Denny said, "Our ranking in The Lawyer 100 reflects the firm's development and achievements over recent years into a leading regional law firm and one of the largest in the South East.

" We have managed to maintain our rate of growth despite the challenge of a general slowdown in the economy, which has seen some of the other large law firms suffer from a declining revenue."