British Legal Awards

by Elizabeth Harrin (London)

The winners of the British Legal Awards were announced on Wednesday, November 26th, with the law firms Eversheds, Ashurst and Linklaters each scooping two awards. Hosted by Dara O’Briain, the awards ceremony, sponsored by BlackBerry, took place at Old Billingsgate Market in the City of London.

Caitlin St Vincent Welch from Avanade impressed the judges with the fact that alongside her role as a frontline legal adviser, she has developed an important know-how role, delivering training sessions for the sales team and updating Avanade’s legal templates. She won Young Corporate Counsel of the Year.

Jenny Afia from Schillings, won the Young Solicitor of the Year award. Jenny’s client references, and her initiative to develop a series of breakfast briefings for clients, contacts and business partners of the firm, convinced the judging panel.

Eversheds secured the flagship Law Firm of the Year award. The judging panel – which included several senior general counsel – praised the firm for its drive to introduce more transparent billing processes and make fees more predictable.

Linklaters secured Cross-border M&A Team of the Year and Banking and Restructuring Team of the Year. The judges singled out the firm for its investment in technological support for clients. “This is something they have consistently done well,” said the judges.

The CSR Project of the Year award was won by Clifford Chance for a program that provide finances to community projects in the developing world. The judges were “impressed and encouraged” by the quality of the entries in this category. Clifford Chance was singled out for the way it made full use of its legal skills in order to deliver an effective CSR program. “This is an excellent project and is precisely how CSR should be done,” said the judges.

Other winners included AXA UK (Legal Department of the Year) and US firm White & Case (Litigation and Regulatory Team of the Year).