Specialist judges for Excellence Awards announced

24 July, 2008

A range of highly respected leaders in their fields has been enlisted by the Law Society to select the short list of candidates and winners of the most prestigious awards in the legal calendar.

The Law Society is inviting nominations for the Excellence Awards 2008 following the outstanding success of the Society's inaugural awards last year.

Entries will be judged by a panel chaired by the President of the Law Society, that also includes a specialist judge in each category. Those specialist judges include experts in law, business, and social responsibility as well as marketing.  The first three specialist judges are being announced today.

Ben Summerskill, Chief Executive of Stonewall, will join the panel to select the Excellence in Equality and Diversity award winner Chris Marston, Head of Solicitors' Banking at Lloyds TSB Commercial will be responsible for selecting the Lexcel Award for Excellence in Practice Standards
Alan Hodgart of H4 Partners, a leading strategic consultant with extensive experience in the legal and professional services sectors, will decide on the award for Excellence in Pioneering Legal Services

The judging panel for each category will also include Vice President of the Law Society Robert Heslett, and Deputy Vice President of the Law Society Linda Lee.

The awards reward the most outstanding practitioners in the legal professions and are open to solicitors and individuals and teams across the entire legal sector. They are designed to recognise best practice across the entire legal profession 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.

Paul Marsh, Law Society President said, "There's no better way to promote the legal profession than to celebrate the excellence and innovation that exists right across the profession. We can all benefit by recognising and learning from the achievements of the leaders and innovators in our profession. The best entrants will gain recognition for their achievements and hard work accolade of winning the most prestigious awards in the legal calendar."

The closing date for entries is Friday 12 September. The awards will be presented at a prestigious black tie dinner and presentation ceremony which will take place on 23 October at Old Billingsgate in London.