RPC is a corporate and insurancelaw firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom with offices in Bristol, Singapore and Hong Kong. The firm has around 720 people - including 81 partners and 334 other lawyers. RPC provide legal services to global businesses across a wide range of industry sectors and practices, including insurance, commercial litigation, construction, engineering and projects, corporate/M&A, IP and technology, media, real estate, employment and pensions, outsourcing, regulatory, tax and competition. RPC has been named Law Firm of the Year three times since 2014, and Best Legal Adviser every year since 2009. The firm has a Partnership Executive Committee that includes a full-time Managing Partner, James Miller. The senior partner is commercial partner Oliver Bray. The firm is synonymous with insurance, having supported the sector in doing business throughout the world for over 60 years.. The firm is the only English member of TerraLex, a global network of legal experts in more than 150 law firms across 100 jurisdictions.
History
The firm can trace its origins back to 1898, when Nathaniel Reynolds set up Hannay & Reynolds with fellow solicitor Alexander Arnold Hannay. This alliance did not last, however, and Reynolds set up as a sole practitioner in 1903 in Arundel Street in the Strand, London. In 1906 his son Hugh joined the practice, which was renamed Reynolds & Son. The firm then continued as Reynolds & Son until 1923, becoming Reynolds & Sons when another son, David Reynolds, joined the firm. With the addition in 1926 of Gerald Thomas Gorst, the firm then continued under various names until 1962: Reynolds Sons & Gorst, Reynolds & Gorst and Reynolds Gorst & Porter. In 1962 it became Reynolds Porter & Taylor Jelf. It finally became Reynolds Porter & Co in 1963. Chamberlain & Co originates from Walter John Chamberlain, who was born on Christmas Day 1869 and was admitted in March 1906 aged 37. For the first year he practised alone in Croydon but then formed Chamberlain & Co in 1907 on moving to No. 1 Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn, London. Walter was Mayor of Croydon from 1927 to 1929 and also became Clerk of the Fine Art Trade Guild. His son, Francis Walter Chamberlain, was admitted in December 1913 but did not join the firm until 1919. Francis Walter Chamberlain was eventually appointed CBE and sat as a Justice of the Peace and was a Deputy Lord Lieutenant. The two firms came together in 1971, a year after the death of Walter Chamberlain's son, to become Reynolds Porter Chamberlain & Co. The '& Co' was dropped from the name around ten years later.
The firm has a Corporate Social Responsibility steering committee that co-ordinates its efforts across the following sectors: workplace, marketplace, environment and community. Other initiatives the firm supports are the Limitless London Mentoring Scheme, the TARGET Chances diversity initiative and the BPP Diversity Access Scheme The firm is also a member of Stonewall, and Interlaw, both of which are aimed at supporting equality for gay, lesbian and bisexual employees in the workplace.
