LawCareers.Net Awards honour best in the business

On 22 May 2014 the LawCareers.Net Training & Recruitment Awards celebrated their 11th year with over 200 recruiters, partners, trainees and other friends joining the LawCareers.Net team for a glamorous presentation at Merchant Taylors’ Hall in London. As ever, the LC.N Awards honour the firms and individuals who offer their recruits the best possible start to their legal careers. Firms were assessed on their recruitment process, the training they offer and the quality of their work placement schemes, and then compared with their peers.

LawCareers.Net publisher Matthew Broadbent commented: "Wherever you are in the business cycle, it is crucial to nurture talent to guarantee the future of the organisation. The LC.N Awards is all about identifying which firms take the future of their trainees and their business seriously."

The winners were:

POTHECARY WITHAM WELD
Best Recruiter – Small Firm

ALAN EDWARDS & CO
Best Trainer – Small Firm

EMW LAW LLP
Best Recruiter – Medium Regional Firm

THOMSON SNELL & PASSMORE
Best Trainer – Medium Regional Firm

TRAVERS SMITH LLP
Best Recruiter – Medium City Firm

FARRER & CO LLP
Best Trainer – Medium City Firm

KIRKLAND & ELLIS INTERNATIONAL LLP
Best Recruiter – US Firm in the City

LATHAM & WATKINS
Best Trainer – US Firm in the City

BURGES SALMON LLP
Best Recruiter – National/Large Regional Firm

SHOOSMITHS
Best Trainer – National/Large Regional Firm

NABARRO LLP
Best Recruiter – Large City Firm

TAYLOR WESSING
Best Trainer – Large City Firm

MILLS & REEVE LLP
Best Work Placement Scheme – Regional Firm

SPEECHLY BIRCHAM LLP
Best Work Placement Scheme – City Firm

BEN PERRY – SULLIVAN & CROMWELL LLP
Best Training Principal - Small Trainee Intake

SUZANNE TODD – WITHERS LLP
Best Training Principal - Large Trainee Intake

HOGAN LOVELLS
Commendation for Diversity

MARY LEE – UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
Law Lecturer of the Year

Hogan Lovells was awarded the Commendation for Diversity, which was judged in association with Rare and the Law Society’s Lawyers with Disabilities Division (LDD). Lianne Mosley, director of legal recruitment at Rare, and Jane Burton, honorary secretary of the LDD, commented: "Once again it is heartening to see so many firms taking active steps to be inclusive workplaces, to target talent from and offer opportunities to those from all backgrounds and circumstances and to offer genuine proactive support to their employees. The winner, Hogan Lovells, demonstrated a wide array of initiatives covering all areas of diversity. In particular we were impressed by how much access to the workplace and how many schemes the firm offered to future talent that demonstrated a genuine commitment to true breadth of opportunity. Mention must also be made of last year’s winner Reed Smith, whose work in the field of disability remains the gold standard among law firms."

Here is the full list of nominees:

Best Recruiter – Small Firm
Atherton Godfrey
Clarkson Wright & Jakes Ltd
Pothecary Witham Weld
Thackray Williams LLP
Wrigleys Solicitors LLP

Best Trainer - Small Firm
Alan Edwards & Co
Maples Teesdale LLP
Short Richardson & Forth LLP
Tim Johnson / Law
Zyda Law

Best Recruiter – Medium Regional Firm
EMW Law LLP
Muckle LLP
Nockolds
Stevens & Bolton LLP
Taylor Walton LLP
Tees Law
Withy King

Best Trainer – Medium Regional Firm
Blandy & Blandy LLP
Field Seymour Parkes
Foot Anstey LLP
Mundays LLP
Thomas Eggar
Thomson Snell & Passmore
Wilkin Chapman LLP

Best Recruiter – Medium City Firm
Bristows LLP
Collyer Bristow LLP
Edwards Wildman Palmer UK LLP
Forsters LLP
Payne Hicks Beach
RPC
Travers Smith LLP

Best Trainer – Medium City Firm
Devonshires Solicitors
Farrer & Co LLP
Goodman Derrick LLP
K&L Gates LLP
Kennedys
Kingsley Napley LLP
Winckworth Sherwood LLP

Best Recruiter – US Firm in the City
Kirkland & Ellis International LLP
Shearman & Sterling (London) LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Vinson & Elkins RLLP
Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Best Trainer – US Firm in the City
Bingham McCutchen (London) LLP
Covington & Burling LLP
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Latham & Watkins
Morrison & Foerster (UK) LLP
O'Melveny & Myers LLP

Best Recruiter – National/Large Regional Firm
Blake Lapthorn
Bond Dickinson
Burges Salmon LLP
DLA Piper UK LLP
Mills & Reeve LLP
Osborne Clarke
Walker Morris LLP

Best Trainer – National/ Large Regional Firm
Addleshaw Goddard
Bevan Brittan LLP
DWF LLP
Freeth Cartwright LLP
Hill Dickinson LLP
Irwin Mitchell
Shoosmiths

Best Recruiter - Large City Firm
Ashurst LLP
Berwin Leighton Paisner
Bird & Bird
Clyde & Co LLP
CMS Cameron McKenna LLP
Linklaters LLP
Mayer Brown International LLP
Nabarro LLP

Best Trainer – Large City Firm
Baker & McKenzie
Bird & Bird
Clyde & Co LLP
Norton Rose Fulbright
Reed Smith
Simmons & Simmons LLP
Taylor Wessing

Best Work Placement Scheme – Regional Firm
Ashfords
Eversheds LLP
Mills & Reeve LLP
Osborne Clarke
TLT LLP
Wragge & Co LLP

Best Work Placement Scheme – City Firm
Kirkland & Ellis International LLP
Mishcon de Reya
Nabarro LLP
Norton Rose Fulbright
Speechly Bircham LLP
Withers LLP

Best Training Principal – Small trainee intake
Graham French – Alan Edwards & Co
Diane Parker – Atherton Godfrey
Stephen Morris – Mundays LLP
Ben Perry – Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Letty Glaister – Tees Law
Valerie James – Wrigleys Solicitors LLP

Best Training Principal – Large trainee intake
Edward Miller – Field Fisher Waterhouse
Bob Hughes – Freeth Cartwright LLP
Nick Johnson – Osborne Clarke
Lynn Knight – Shoosmiths
Tim Worden – Taylor Wessing
Suzanne Todd – Withers

Law Lecturer of the Year
Jane Martin – Anglia Ruskin University
Gwilym Owen – Bangor University
Janet O'Sullivan – University of Cambridge
Kieran Durcan – University of Lincoln
Paul Craig – University of Oxford
Mary Lee – University of Sussex

Notes:

LawCareers.Net is the most comprehensive and widely used resource available to future lawyers and those who recruit them. Analysis of over 50,000 real applications, surveys of candidates and observation of where firms advertise their opportunities all reveal LawCareers.Net to be the most popular place for these two groups to interact. The site continues to evolve and adapt to maximise the chances for candidates to secure the positions they deserve.

Rare is a specialist graduate diversity recruitment company that connects exceptional people from diverse backgrounds with great careers in top organisations.

Lawyers with Disabilities Division is a Law Society Group committed to promoting equality of opportunity for people with disabilities - whether they are solicitors, would-be solicitors or clients.