Shortlists

Excellence Awards - shortlisted entrants

Exceptional solicitors, individuals and teams across the entire legal sector have been shortlisted for the Law Society's Excellence Awards. Mishal Husain, BBC World News presenter, will present the awards at a prestigious black tie dinner on 22 October.

The shortlisted entrants are:

Excellence in Client Service

Sponsored by Moneypenny

This award will highlight excellence in client care and innovative approaches to maintaining and developing client focused services. The judges looked for practices that demonstrated a leading edge commitment to client care and examples of real efforts in going the extra mile for clients. This award was open to all in the legal sector.

Hartnell Chanot & Partners
Kimbells LLP
The Law Shop
Legal Services Unit - Staffordshire County Council
Thaliwal Bridge Solicitors
ThomasMansfield LLP
Young Adult Team - The Howard League for Penal Reform

Excellence in Equality & Diversity

Sponsored by Equality & Human Rights Commission

The most innovative and successful examples of best practice in the promotion of equality and diversity were sought for this award. We were looking for examples of clear benefits to organisations, employees and clients, from embracing equality and diversity policies and practices in the widest sense, to recruiting and retaining the most talented and motivated lawyers.
This award was open to all in the legal sector.

Addleshaw Goddard LLP
Allen & Overy LLP
Herbert Smith LLP
Interlaw Diversity Forum
Lovells LLP
Miller Rosenfalck LLP
Muckle LLP
Pinsent Masons LLP
Legal Directorate, Royal College of Nursing
Simmons & Simmons

Excellence in Community Investment

Sponsored by Deloitte

This award will highlight best practice and innovation in community investment including fundraising and charitable giving, pro bono and non-legal volunteering. The judges looked 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. This award was open to all in the legal sector.

Allen & Overy LLP
Eversheds LLP
Linklaters LLP
Lovells LLP/ITV plc
Martin Searle Solicitors
Simpson, Sissons & Brooke LLP
Speechly Bircham LLP

Legal Sector Alliance Award for Environmental Responsibility

Sponsored by Canon

Best practice and innovation in proactive environmental strategy and performance was sought for this award. The judges looked for original ideas and significant outcomes from environmental initiatives such as carbon management, energy efficiency and sustainable procurement. This award was open to all in the legal sector.

Legal Team - Buckinghamshire County Council
Travers Smith
Legal Services - Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council
Paris Smith LLP

Excellence in Marketing & Business Development

Sponsored by Orange

This award will go to the most innovative, creative and inspiring business development campaign executed by a law firm or in-house legal department. Entries needed to: 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. This award was open to all in the legal sector.

Bond Pearce LLP
Boyes Turner
Jackson Barrett & Gass
Martin Searle Solicitors
Turner Parkinson LLP

Lexcel Award for Excellence in Practice Management

Sponsored by Lloyds TSB Commercial

This will reward excellence in practice management and service delivery from practices that have successfully implemented the Lexcel standards. The judges looked for practices that have effectively incorporated the Lexcel framework into their business strategies to drive continuous improvement. This award was open to Lexcel-accredited practices only.

Birkett Long LLP
Franklins Solicitors LLP
Legal Services - London Borough of Enfield
Penningtons Solicitors LLP
Short Richardson & Forth LLP
Legal Services Unit - Staffordshire County Council
Watkins and Gunn Solicitors
Wiseman Lee LLP

Excellence in Innovation

Sponsored by TFB

Entries were sought from innovative teams across the legal services sector who demonstrated 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. This award was open to all in the legal sector.

Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP
Blacklaws Davis LLP
Legal Services - Lincolnshire County Council
QualitySolicitors.com
ThomasMansfield LLP
Turner Parkinson LLP

Excellence in Exporting Legal Services

Sponsored by American Airlines

This award will go to a law firm that can show it has broken new ground in the export of legal services. Entries needed to demonstrate the strategic nature of the firm’s exporting objectives; the active development of new export markets (either geographical or sectoral) which have turned into results impacting on the firm’s turnover; and the coherent integration of this export activity into wider business development plans. This award was open to all in the legal sector.

Burton Burton and Ho LLP
Clarke Willmott LLP
Irwin Mitchell
Miller Rosenfalck LLP
Pinsent Masons LLP
SC Andrew LLP
Trowers & Hamlins LLP

AWS Legal Business Woman of the Year

Entries to this category have been selected from the winners of the Association of Women Solicitors (AWS) awards. Find out more about the AWS awards at www.womensolicitors.org.uk.

Susan Bright - Lovells LLP
Sarah Young - Ridley and Hall Solicitors
June Venters, QC - Venter Solicitors
Clare Jones - Nomura International plc
Rita Dev - Allen & Overy LLP

Legal Executive of the Year

Sponsored by ILEX

This award was open to legal executives only.

Stuart Cartwright - JMW Solicitors
Darren Hill - United Utilities
Harbens Kaur - Homerton Hospital
Alexandra Loxton - Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP
Rhapsody-Angel Skillcorn - Saunders and Company

Advocate of the Year

Sponsored by Logica

This award was open to anyone undertaking advocacy.

Paul Bowen - Doughty Street Chambers
Peter Rees QC - Debevoise & Plimpton

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 post-qualification experience.

*All suitable entries to this category will automatically be considered for the Law Society Junior Lawyers Division Pro Bono Awards to be presented during National Pro Bono Week 2009.

Natasha Catterson - Fisher Meredith LLP
Gwendolen Morgan - Bindmans LLP and Young Legal Aid Lawyers
Balaal Hussain Khan - Khan Solicitors LTD
Catherine Robinson - Fisher Meredith LLP
John David Sinclair - Acorn Solicitors
Sergio Weingarten- Paul Hastings Janofsky and Walker LLP

Solicitor of the Year - In-house

Sponsored by Hiscox

Open to solicitors only.

Robert Baugh - Ring2 Communications
Gareth W Chapman - Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council
Roger Clayson - Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
Andrew Garard - ITV
Peter Judge - One North East
Geoff Wild - Kent County Council

Solicitor of the Year - Private Practice

Sponsored by DX