Categories and criteria
Awards for firms/teams
Excellence in Community Investment
Sponsored by Thames Water
Open to all in the legal sector.
This award will highlight best practice and innovation in community investment including fundraising and charitable giving, pro bono and non-legal volunteering. The judges will look for innovative and sustainable solutions to an identified need which produce significant impacts for both the community and the organisation, in programmes over and above core business activity.
Judges: David Robinson OBE, founder and senior advisor, Community Links, and Randal Barker, Lead of GC100 Executive Committee's Standing Group on Corporate Responsibility and Health.
Legal Sector Alliance Award for Excellence in Environmental Responsibility
Sponsored by Canon
Open to all in the legal sector
Best practice and innovation in proactive environmental strategy and performance is sought for this award. The judges will look for original ideas and significant outcomes from environmental initiatives such as carbon management, energy efficiency and sustainable procurement.
Judges: Surrie Everett-Pascoe, environment manager - UK and Ireland, Canon, and Jim Haywood, environment director, Business in the Community.
Excellence in Client Service
Sponsored by DX
Open to all in the legal sector.
This award will highlight excellence in client care and innovative approaches to maintaining and developing client focused services. The judges will look for practices that demonstrate a leading edge commitment to client care and examples of real efforts in going the extra mile for clients.
Judges: Adam Sampson, chief ombudsman, Legal Ombudsman, and Christine Farnish, chair of the board of Consumer Focus.
Excellence in Marketing & Business Development
Sponsored by Moneypenny
Open to all in the legal sector.
This award will go to the most innovative, creative and inspiring business development campaign executed by a law firm or in-house legal department. The entry should: identify the objectives; outline campaign elements; explain how the campaign was integrated into the wider marketing and business development of the law firm or in-house legal team; describe the rollout of associated marketing activity; and quantify measurable results.
Judges: Sue Bramall, managing director, Berners Marketing and Nick Kehoe, managing editor, Media Coverage Ltd.
Lexcel Award for Excellence in Practice Management
Sponsored by Lloyds TSB Commercial
Open to Lexcel-accredited practices only.
This will reward excellence in practice management and service delivery from practices that have successfully implemented the Lexcel standard. The judges will look for practices that have effectively incorporated the Lexcel framework into their business strategies to drive continuous improvement.
Judges: John Pickup, chair, Lexcel Panel, and Chris Marston, head of Professional Practices, Lloyds TSB.
Excellence in Innovation
Sponsored by TikitTFB
Open to all in the legal sector.
Entries are sought from innovative teams across the legal services sector who can demonstrate cutting edge business practice and client service. These might include innovative approaches to standardisation or commoditisation, or the creation of new suites of high value-added services or means of delivery to meet client needs.
Judges: Daniel Drukarz, partner, Asserson Law Offices, and Kevin Doolan, partner and head of Client Services, Eversheds LLP.
Excellence in Learning & Development
Sponsored by Huthwaite Legal
Open to all in the legal sector
The judges will look for the very best examples of high quality and influential programmes of learning and development from across the legal sector. Those programmes might cover legal or nonlegal staff within practices and might be delivered by and within practices or by training institutions or companies. The shortlisted programmes should demonstrate a strong and lasting impact on the delivery of legal services.
Judges: Professor Andrew Boon, dean of the School of Law, University of Westminster, and Zahra Naqvi, learning and development manager, Allen & Overy LLP.
Excellence in Equality & Diversity
Sponsored by Equality Works
Open to all in the legal sector.
The most innovative and successful examples of best practice in the promotion of equality and diversity are sought for this award. We are looking for examples of clear benefits to organisations, employees and/or clients, from embracing equality and diversity policies and practices in the widest sense, to recruiting and retaining the most talented and motivated lawyers.
Judges: Sue Johnstone, editor, Equal Opportunities Review, and Sandra Kerr, national director, Race for Opportunity.
Awards for individuals
The following awards will be presented to exceptional individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the legal profession during the year. They might have had a particularly positive impact on the reputation of the profession, or have made an unusually significant impact in their practice area or in the service of clients. The judges will have wide discretion.
The Law Society Gazette Legal Personality of the Year
Entries to this category will be selected by the Law Society Gazette.
AWS Legal Business Woman of the Year
Sponsored by Lombard
Entries to this category will be selected from the entrants to the Association of Women Solicitors (AWS) awards.
Legal Executive of the Year
Sponsored by JLT Property Insurance
Open to legal executives only.
Judges: Sioban Calcott, head of Banbury Litigation (FILEX), Brethertons, and Darren Hill, head of Claims and Debt Recovery, United Utilities Legal Department.
LMS Leader of the Year
Sponsored by Prime Professions
Open to managing partners and in-house legal team leaders only. You do not need to be a member of the Law Management Section (LMS) to enter this award.
Judges: Nigel Haddon, chair of LMS Committee, chief executive of SAS Daniels LLP, and David Bott, LMS Committee, managing partner of Bott & Co.
Solicitor Advocate of the Year
Sponsored by Wesleyan for Lawyers
Open to anyone undertaking advocacy.
Judges: Joshua Rozenberg, legal commentator, and Razi Shah, solicitor advocate and partner at Appleby Shaw.
Junior Lawyer of the Year
Sponsored by Zurich
Open to members of the Law Society’s Junior Lawyers Division only - student members of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, trainees and solicitors with up to five years’ active postqualification experience.
Judges: Lisa Morgan, 2010 winner of Junior Lawyer of the Year, and Jude Perkins, chair, Junior Lawyers Division.
Solicitor of the Year - In-house
Sponsored by Hiscox
Open to solicitors only.
Judges: Bev Cullen, chair of Solicitors in Local Government, and Nina Barakzai, chair of C&I Corporate Governance Committee.
Solicitor of the Year - Private Practice
Open to solicitors only.
Judges: Alexandra Marks, retired partner, Linklaters, and Frances Gibb, legal editor, The Times.