Press Release

Record numbers enter Law Society Excellence Awards

19 September 2008

Entries have now closed for the most prestigious awards in the legal calendar. The excitement is just beginning, with the process of judging entries now underway.

A team of distinguished judges have begun the crucial task of working through the hundreds of entries to select the shortlist and winners of the Excellence Awards.

Times Legal Editor Frances Gibb has been enlisted to select the short list of candidates and winner of the Solicitor of the Year Award, while Joshua Rozenberg, Legal Editor of the Telegraph, will be responsible for selecting the Award for Barrister of the Year. They will be joined by Ben Summerskill, Chief Executive of Stonewall, who will work with the panel to select the Excellence in Equality and Diversity award winner, Chris Marston, Head of Solicitors' Banking at Lloyds TSB Commercial, who will be responsible for selecting the Lexcel Award for Excellence in Practice Standards and Alan Hodgart of H4 Partners, a leading strategic consultant with extensive experience in the legal and professional services sectors, who will decide on the award for Excellence in Pioneering Legal Services.

The judging panel for each category will also include the Law Society office holder team, led by President of the Law Society Paul Marsh, Vice President of the Law Society Robert Heslett, and Deputy Vice President of the Law Society Linda Lee.

BBC Broadcaster Kirsty Wark will present the awards at a black tie dinner and presentation ceremony, which will take place on 23 October at Old Billingsgate in London.

The awards recognise and reward the most outstanding practitioners in the legal professions and are open to individuals and teams across the entire legal sector, not just solicitors. They are designed to recognise best practice and to celebrate excellence and outstanding achievement in areas that are central to the profession today. They highlight innovative business and quality of life practices, successful approaches to practice management, contributions through social responsibility and equality and diversity initiatives.

Awards will also be presented to the individuals judged to have made the greatest personal contributions and positive impact on the perception of the profession, in the categories of Solicitor of the Year Award, Junior Lawyer of the Year award, Barrister of the Year award and Legal executive of the Year Award.

Law Society President Paul Marsh said, "winning a Law Society Excellence Award is a huge achievement and brings great recognition for individuals and firms. These awards reflect the Law Society's commitment to the promotion of excellence throughout the legal professions. I feel privileged to be one of the awards judges and to have the opportunity to recognise the hard work which is being undertaken throughout the professions and to promote this good practice across the country."

Short listed finalists will be announced in the week commencing September 29th.