Slaughter and May has moved back to the top of the stock market client adviser rankings, overtaking Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) after gaining 10 new listed clients in the last quarter of 2017.

Research by Adviser Rankings shows that Slaughters now has 115 listed clients, ahead of HSF with 110 and Pinsent Masons with 101.

The research covers clients within the FTSE 100, FTSE 250, and FTSE Small Cap/Fledgling indices, as well as UK and overseas clients listed on AIM.

HSF previously topped the rankings for Q3 after adding 12 clients, but between August and November this year added just one more.

Pinsents retained its third place ranking after adding one client during the quarter, while CMS and offshore firm Carey Olsen placed equal fourth with 98 clients.

Among the top 30, Charles Russell Speechlys was the biggest loser in terms of total numbers of listed clients, dropping five from 51 last quarter to 46, closely followed by Ashurst, which dropped four from 66 to 62.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer placed 14th after seeing listed client numbers fall three from 68 to 65 during the quarter. Among the other magic circle firms, Linklaters placed ninth with 81 clients, with Allen & Overy (A&O) 11th with 76 and Clifford Chance (CC) coming in at 17th on 49.

Pinsents climbed to the top of the AIM rankings after adding two clients to reach a total of 53, one ahead of Gowling WLG, which lost two clients during the quarter, with CMS in third on 42.

Meanwhile, Dickson Minto sits way ahead of the competition in the Small Cap/Fledgling client rankings with 63, more than double that of HSF in second with 29.

In terms of FTSE 100 clients, the magic circle firms dominate, with Slaughters top on 32, ahead of A&O on 28, Linklaters on 25 and Freshfields on 23.