Scottish Legal Awards 2015 open for nominations

Lorna Jack, Chief Executive of the Law Society of Scotland and chairman of the judging panel. Picture: Ian Georgeson

The Scott+Co Scottish Legal Awards 2015 has been refreshed to ensure that the programme reflects what is happening in the profession.

The Training Provider of the Year returns to the programme for 2015 and will be presented to an organisation delivering innovative legal training across all disciplines and career stages. The award seeks to recognise a high-quality, post-qualification training provider for the legal profession.

The Public Sector Law Team category will also return for 2015. The judges will be looking for a legal team which is offering a consistent and reliable service to local authorities, government and/or related agencies, such as the NHS, housing or education.

A new award has also been created to reward the efforts of firms to engage a positive employer strategy which rewards, retains and recruits the best people. The Employer of the Year will recognise the efforts of legal firms to be good employers. Judges will be looking for innovative, flexible business practices backed up with good internal communication.

The three new categories in the 2015 programme join old favourites including the Litigation Team of the Year sponsored by Tilney Bestinvest, the Employment Team of the Year sponsored by Badenoch & Clark, In house Legal Team of the Year sponsored by Barbri International and the hotly contended DX Firm of the Year.

This year will also see two Paralegal of the Year awards presented – one to an in-house paralegal and one to a paralegal in private practice. The Paralegal of the Year Awards will recognise an outstanding individual who is making a real contribution to the firm.

Reviewing the submissions this year will be a 12-strong judging panel of representatives from the world of business, law and academia.

Lorna Jack, Chief Executive of the Law Society of Scotland and chairman of the judging panel, said: “It’s important to refresh the awards every year and the judges hope that the profession will respond in force again to the call for entries for Scotland’s premier legal awards programme.”

The deadline for entries is exactly one month away – Thursday, 27 November 2014, with the finalists being announced on Monday, 5 January, 2015.

For the first time this year you can enter the awards online at www.thelegalawards.com where you can also download an entry guide for details.

It is free to enter, but you are kindly requested to include a voluntary donation to It’s Good 2 Give, the Awards charity partner.

The awards take place on Thursday, 26 March, 2015 at the Edinburgh Assembly Rooms and following a sell-out event this year, early booking is recommended by visiting www.kdmedia.co.uk/legalawards/book/

• Badenoch & Clark Employment Team of the Year

• Wolffe Community Contribution Award

• Family Law Team of the Year

• Tilney Bestinvest Litigation Team of the Year

• Paralegal of the Year (In House and Firm)

• Private Client Team of the Year

• Pro Bono Award

• National Association of Estate Agents Residential Property Team of the Year

• Law Society of Scotland Rising Star of the Year

• Specialist Lawyer of the Year

• Support Team of the Year

• Public Sector Law Team

• Barbri International In House Legal Team of the Year

• Employer of the Year

• Barr Printers Training Provider of the Year

• The Scotsman Lifetime Achievement Award

• Bank of Scotland Chairman/Managing Partner of the Year

• DX Firm of the Year