THEY are the solicitors worth millions – to their clients at least.

Staff at a Hampshire firm are celebrating after reclaiming more than £1m for customers who were mis-sold interest rate hedging products.

Ellis Jones solicitors in Ringwood is handling more than 50 cases involving the sale of the products, which are designed to allow businesses to manage fluctuations in interest rates.

Often known as “interest rate protection”, they were sold by the UK's biggest banks on the basis that they would act as a hedge or a form of protection against any rise in interest rates.

But due to the complexities of the structured product, in many cases the customer did not appreciate, or was not even aware of, the significant risk they were taking on.

The banks and firms involved have not been named, but all of the businesses are based outside of Hampshire.

Care home owners, caravan park operators, hoteliers, pub landlords and property developers are among the 50 clients who have been saved a combined total in excess of £1 million. The Ellis Jones team have also saved one of its clients a break fee of about £2.4m.

William Fox Bregman, who heads Ellis Jones’ specialist banking litigation department, said: “As each day goes by the scale of this banking scandal becomes ever more apparent.

“We have many other cases currently progressing through the High Court and are hopeful of achieving further successes for our clients in the near future.

“Many businesses may still not be aware that they have such a product in place.

“There are also strict deadlines for claims against banks to be issued in order to avoid being time-barred, so we would urge businesses to take professional advice as soon as possible.”

The demand for help in such cases has led Ellis Jones to add to its banking litigation department, in order to cope with the firm’s booming client base.

Paralegal Theresa Hancock, who previously worked for the private client department of a Poole law firm, has been taken on by the Hampshire company.