Sunday, November 22, 2015

Oldest law firm: Thomson Snell & Passmore breaks Guinness World Records record (VIDEO)

LONDON, UK -- A Kent law firm is the world's oldest; Thomson Snell & Passmore — a mixed-practice based in Dartford and Tunbridge Wells — was founded in the middle of the Elizabethan period in 1570, thus setting the new world record for being the Oldest law firm still in operation, according to the World Record Academy .

  Photo: Thomson Snell & Passmore — a mixed-practice based in Dartford and Tunbridge Wells — was founded in the middle of the Elizabethan period in 1570.
( enlarge photo )

The Guinness World Records' record for the Largest law firm - revenues was set by Clifford Chance LLP, which has the highest revenues of any law firm globally. The company was created after the merger of Clifford Chance, Rogers & Wells LLP and Pünder, Volhard, Weber & Axster on January 1, 2000. The combined revenues of the three companies prior to merger for the period till December 1998 were $986 million (then approx. £594 million). Clifford Chance LLP also employs more legal advisors than any other law firm. It has 3,360 legal advisers, of which 640 are partners, in its 29 offices, based in 19 countries around the world.

  Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the largest DNA database; it is the The National DNA Index System (NDIS), created by the FBI (USA) in 1994 and which, as of April 2010, contained 8,201,707 offender profiles and 315,789 forensic profiles.

   Thomson Snell & Passmore — which did not acquire its current name until 1968 — is no stranger to the record books. Before he died in 1954, Frederick Alfred Snell, ancestor of the firm's founder, held the accolade of oldest practising solicitor in England, at the ripe old age of 96.

   Thomson Snell & Passmore, based in Tunbridge Wells and Dartford, was launched in 1570 by Nicholas Hooper, a curate of the Tonbridge Parish Church.
   He announced himself as a 'scrivener and drafter of documents' writing wills and property bonds for the local community.

    Thomson Snell & Passmore chief executive Simon Slater said: "It is tremendous to be named an official World Record holder.

  "This is an acknowledgement of the firm's unique longevity and a testament to our resilience as a law firm. "This recognition underpins our promise to our clients that we will always be here to provide legal support."