Chester legal firm Knights has received high rankings in the recent Chambers UK guide.

The professional services firm opened its Chester office last year and is already ranking amongst the best practices in the region across a number of its services.

Partners at Knights Chester received ‘band one’ rankings for their work in corporate and mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, agriculture and rural affairs, family, and private client services across the North West.

The firm is described as ‘a new market entrant with a thriving corporate and M and A practice, built on the long-established local reputation of its team’ and also was described by clients as delivering a ‘bespoke service to a high standard’.

Managing partner, Sally Wightman, said: “Knights decided to open an office in Chester to better service the North West – and North Wales – and to be recognised by industry rankings such as Chambers UK shows that we are doing just that.

“We have put together a talented and dedicated team here in Chester, which allows us to offer a top quality service to our clients across a wide range of practice areas. To have this confirmed by the comments from clients featured in the Chambers guide is a real boost for us all.”

The Chambers guide rankings come just weeks after the firm received top-tier recommendations in the Legal 500, another authoritative research guide of the leading law firms operating within the UK.

Sally Wightman, Anton Stirrett, Joanne Shelley and Richard Williams all received band one rankings in their respective expert areas.

New partner Elisabeth Pugh was given an ‘up and coming’ ranking – awarded to those lawyers driving the growth of their firm.

Sally added: “To be achieving these excellent rankings and recommendations in little over a year of opening in Chester is testament to the hard work being put in by the team here.

“Knights is a very ambitious firm, and we have set ourselves challenging targets for growth across the whole business, as well as specifically for Chester, and recognition like this so early on gives us confidence that we are well on the way to achieving that here.”

The firm, which already has established offices in Staffordshire and Gloucestershire, opened its Cuppin Street office in October 2013.

More than 35 professionals are now employed within the Chester team, which currently works with a number of local high profile clients including Chester Zoo, Chester University Chester Racecourse and Marshalls Aviation.

The success of the Chester office has helped Knights nationally increase its overall revenue by 66% in its first two years of a private equity structure. Knights is the first professional services firm in the UK legal sector to have raised capital through private equity investment.