Leigh Day shortlisted for Legal 500 Northern Powerhouse Awards 2026

Manchester partners Lauren Lougheed and Stephen Jones have been nominated for the Employment Lawyer of the Year and Insurance Lawyer of the Year awards respectively, while senior associate William Broadbent has been nominated for Insurance Leading Associate of the Year.

As a firm, Leigh Day has also been nominated for Employment Firm of the Year, as well as the Client Service Excellence award.  

The nominations are based on the Legal 500 rankings submissions, which are analysed by the directory’s research team to determine who should be nominated in each category.  

The shortlisting reflects Leigh Day’s work in the north of England, with the firm having established itself in the region over the past decade and demonstrated its commitment to securing justice for clients.  

Lauren Lougheed leads the equal pay case being brought by thousands of shop floor workers against their employer, Asda. The firm’s equal pay case on behalf of thousands of workers against Sainsbury’s is also run from the Manchester office.  

Stephen Jones is head of the firm’s clinical negligence team in Manchester and deals with complex negligence cases including maternity injury and mismanagement of labour, spinal and brain injury claims and misdiagnosis. 

William Broadbent is a senior associate in the personal injury department in Manchester and specialises in cycling and road traffic collision claims including complex injury cases involving traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, amputation and fatal cases. 

Leigh Day’s Manchester office now has now been in place for more than 10 years and the Leeds office celebrated its third anniversary earlier this year. The firm has also expanded its presence in Liverpool this year, shifting to a larger premises to accommodate its growing team in Merseyside.

The firm’s employment team has experienced previous success at the Northern Powerhouse awards, having also won the Employment Firm of the Year prize in 2023.  

The awards ceremony will take place on 12 March 2026 at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds.  

Leigh Day partner Clare Campbell said: 

“Our presence in the north of England is something we have worked hard to establish over the past decade since the opening of our Manchester office and then expanding into Leeds and Liverpool. We are proud of the work accomplished by our colleagues in the region to secure justice for our clients. These nominations are further recognition of some the great work and successes achieved by Leigh Day in the north.”