Stars of graduate recruitment shine at glittering LC.N awards

The 12th annual LawCareers.Net Training & Recruitment Awards were held in London’s Gibson Hall, in the heart of the City, on Thursday 21 May. Two hundred guests enjoyed wine and canapés while anticipation rose as to the results of this year’s assessment of which firms provide the best start in the legal profession. Eighteen prizes were awarded: best trainer and recruiter matched up firms by size and location, and the best vacation schemes, training principals and law lecturer were also recognised.

Matthew Broadbent, business development director of LawCareers.Net, commented: "As ever, we have seen many firms battling it out to be recognised as providing a 'best in class' experience to those starting out on a legal career. Our congratulations go to all of the nominees and especially the winners."

The winners were:

ZYDA LAW
Best recruiter – Small firm

TIM JOHNSON / LAW
Best trainer - Small firm

EMW LAW LLP
Best recruiter – Medium regional firm

BLANDY & BLANDY LLP
Best trainer – Medium regional firm

BRISTOWS LLP
Best recruiter – Medium City firm

FARRER & CO LLP
Best trainer – Medium City firm

SULLIVAN & CROMWELL LLP
Best recruiter – US firm in the City

KIRKLAND & ELLIS INTERNATIONAL LLP
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

BIRD & BIRD
Best trainer – Large City firm

BEVAN BRITTAN LLP
Best Work Placement Scheme – Regional firm

TRAVERS SMITH LLP
Best Work Placement Scheme – City firm

JONATHAN THORNTON - RUSSELL-COOKE SOLICITORS
Best training principal – Small trainee intake

SUZANNE TODD - WITHERS LLP
Best training principal – Large trainee intake

SHOOSMITHS
Commendation for Diversity

MIKE VARNEY - UNIVERSITY OF HULL
Law Lecturer of the Year

Shoosmiths was awarded the Commendation for Diversity which was judged by a panel that included Kura Dione, director at Rare Recruitment and Chris White, founder of Aspiring Solicitors. They commented: "Shoosmiths is a firm that has diversity at the very centre of what it does, for sound business as well as equitable reasons. The firm’s drive towards diversity and equality has continued to evolve over more than a decade, with results to match. They have well-developed external networks that cover all the core strands of diversity, and they clearly communicate their diversity policy and aspirations internally through a well-structured group of diversity champions who reach into every part of the business. The firm has a female CEO and 40% of the partnership is female, a ratio that is the envy of its peers. Candidates for training contracts have been assessed through a CV-blind process for over a decade. Perhaps most importantly, the firm recognises that there is no point at which the march towards diversity is ‘complete’, and that redoubled efforts and new initiatives must continue if the business is to operate as well as it might and attract the best people available. We congratulate them as well as Eversheds, Hogan Lovells and Mayer Brown, all of which also made very strong submissions."

Here is the full list of nominees:

Best recruiter - Large City Firm
Berwin Leighton Paisner
Hogan Lovells
King & Wood Mallesons
Nabarro LLP
Norton Rose Fulbright
Simmons & Simmons LLP
Slaughter and May

Best trainer – Large City Firm
Berwin Leighton Paisner
Bird & Bird
Clyde & Co LLP
CMS Cameron McKenna LLP
Dentons
Mayer Brown International LLP
Taylor Wessing

Best recruiter – Medium City Firm
Bircham Dyson Bell LLP
Bristows LLP
Collyer Bristow LLP
Kennedys
Macfarlanes LLP
Travers Smith LLP
Wedlake Bell LLP

Best trainer – Medium City Firm
Farrer & Co LLP
Forsters LLP
Hodge Jones & Allen LLP
Kingsley Napley LLP
Penningtons Manches LLP
Russell-Cooke Solicitors
Withers LLP

Best recruiter – US firm in the City
Morrison & Foerster (UK) LLP
O'Melveny & Myers LLP
Shearman & Sterling (London) LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Best trainer – US firm in the City
Arnold & Porter (UK) LLP
Covington & Burling LLP
Kirkland & Ellis International LLP
Latham & Watkins
McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP
Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy

Best recruiter – National/large regional firm
Bond Dickinson
Burges Salmon LLP
DLA Piper UK LLP
DWF LLP
Hill Dickinson LLP
Mills & Reeve LLP
Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co

Best trainer – National/ large regional firm
Addleshaw Goddard
Bevan Brittan LLP
Freeths LLP
Osborne Clarke
Shoosmiths
Walker Morris LLP
Weightmans LLP

Best recruiter – Medium regional firm
EMW Law LLP
Fosters
Nockolds
Taylor Walton LLP
Tees Law
Trethowans LLP
Withy King

Best trainer – Medium regional firm
Birketts LLP
Blandy & Blandy LLP
Foot Anstey LLP
Mundays LLP
Thomas Eggar
Thomson Snell & Passmore
Wilkin Chapman LLP

Best recruiter – Small firm
Accutrainee
Atherton Godfrey
Thackray Williams LLP
Tim Johnson / Law
Zyda Law

Best trainer - Small firm
Alan Edwards & Co
Pothecary Witham Weld
Short Richardson & Forth LLP
Tim Johnson / Law
Warners

Best work placement scheme – City firm
Covington & Burling LLP
K&L Gates LLP
Reed Smith
RPC
Travers Smith LLP
Withers LLP

Best work placement scheme – Regional firm
Bevan Brittan LLP
Birketts LLP
DWF LLP
Eversheds LLP
Mills & Reeve LLP
TLT LLP

Best Training Principal (large trainee intake)
Madeleina Loughrey-Grant - Farrer & Co LLP
Lisa Jordan - Irwin Mitchell
Sean Lavin - Macfarlanes
Lynn Knight - Shoosmiths
Kirstie McGuigan - Taylor Wessing
Suzanne Todd - Withers LLP

Best Training Principal (small trainee intake)
Diane Parker - Atherton Godfrey
Rajinder Bassi - Kirkland & Ellis International LLP
Jonathan Thornton - Russell-Cooke Solicitors
Ben Perry - Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Letty Glaister - Tees Law
Hilary Platt - Wedlake Bell LLP

Law Lecturer of the Year
Richard Austen-Baker - Lancaster University
John Fanning - University of Liverpool
David Hodgkinson - University of Derby
Ryan Murphy - Aston University
Ann Sherlock - Aberystwyth University
Mike Varney - University of Hull