Business Leadership Awards shortlist: the top business service teams

Last Tuesday and Wednesday four groups, including a mix of some of the UK’s top in-house lawyers, private practice business services group heads and law firm leaders, pored over the entries for this year’s Business Leadership Awards.

The judges had already had access to the entries over previous weeks and scored them on their merits. But this was merely a starting point for discussion, with nothing set in stone until last week.

This year the Business Leadership Awards attracted a record number of entries from all parts of the market, an unprecedented number of countries and the full spectrum of legal services providers, from tiny boutiques to global behemoths, ABSs to in-house teams. There are also several new categories of award, including the hotly contested Most Significant Contribution by a PA/EA prize.

The shortlist published today includes 20 of the 24 overhauled categories of award that will be presented on 28 September at The Brewery in the City of London.

This year we have four additional Grand Prix awards: the Business Leadership Team and Business Leader of the Year awards plus two new Grand Prix categories; Best Service Quality Innovation and Most Innovative non-UK-headquartered Firm awards.

The shortlist for these categories includes recommendations by the judging panels from all the other 20 categories. We will publish the shortlist for these awards over the summer and, in the case of Business Leader of the Year, on the night of the ceremony.

Clients and Markets

Best New Legal Product

• Eversheds
• Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart
• McCarthy Tétrault
• McGuireWoods
• Simmons & Simmons
• TLT
• Wolf Theiss

Innovation in Client Acquisition

• Kemp IT Law
• Keystone Law
• Setfords Solicitors
• Wolf Theiss

Innovation in CRM

• Bär & Karrer
• SRS Advogados
• Trowers & Hamlins
• TWM Solicitors

Innovation in Pricing

• MJ Hudson
• Pinsent Masons
• Progeny Corporate Law

Operations and Delivery

Best Environmental Initiative

• Garrigues
• Herbert Smith Freehills
• VdA (Vieira de Almeida & Associados)

Innovation in Financial Management

Sponsored by: Barclays

• Addleshaw Goddard
• Eversheds
• Pinsent Masons

Innovation in Project Management

Sponsored by: Skarbek Associates

• Axon Partners
• Dentons
• Eversheds
• Herbert Smith Freehills

Most Innovative Workplace Initiative

• A&L Goodbody
• Allen & Overy
• Ashurst
• Dechert
• King & Wood Mallesons
• Mills & Reeve
• SRS Advogados

People and Talent

Best Agile Working Initiative

• Axon Partners
• Borenius Attorneys
• Excello Law
• Keystone Law
• LOD (Lawyers On Demand)
• Mills & Reeve

Best Pro Bono/CSR Initiative

• Arthur Cox
• Ashurst
• Dechert
• Hogan Lovells
• Jackson Canter
• Paul Hastings
• Shearman & Sterling
• Simmons & Simmons

Best Diversity Initiative

• Addleshaw Goddard
• Attwells Solicitors
• Berwin Leighton Paisner
• CIB
• Dechert
• Pinsent Masons

Best Recruitment Campaign

• Borenius Attorneys
• Burges Salmon
• Dentons
• Herbert Smith Freehills
• Shearman & Sterling
• Shoosmiths
• Taylor Wessing

Best Talent Initiative

• Ashurst
• Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy
• Paul Hastings
• Pinsent Masons
• Shoosmiths
• VdA (Vieira de Almeida & Associados)

Performance and Results

Best BD Initiative

• Addleshaw Goddard
• Herbert Smith Freehills
• Kemp IT Law
• McCarthy Tétrault
• Mills & Reeve
• Taylor Wessing

Best Marketing/Communications Campaign

• Berwin Leighton Paisner
• Clifford Chance
• CMS
• Herbert Smith Freehills
• King & Wood Mallesons
• LOD (Lawyers On Demand)
• Pinsent Masons
• RPC

Most Significant Contribution by a PA/EA

• Melanie Balcan, Withers
• Jennifer Clarke, DWF
• Deena Gladen, Dentons
• Koren O’Connor, CMS
• Alison Preece, Burges Salmon
• Bal Sidhu, DLA Piper
• Lauren Stanway, Ernst & Young

Technology and Knowledge

Best Firmwide Use of Technology

• Bär & Karrer
• Charles Russell Speechlys
• CMS
• DWF
• Garrigues
• Paul Hastings
• Radiant Law

Innovation in Knowledge Management

Sponsored by: Encompass

• A&L Goodbody
• Charles Russell Speechlys
• Garrigues
• Gowling WLG
• Mason Hayes & Curran
• Pérez-Llorca
• Taylor Wessing

Best Big Data Initiative

• Berwin Leighton Paisner
• DLA Piper
• Paul Hastings
• Pinsent Masons
• Simmons & Simmons

Most Innovative Client-facing Technology

• Addleshaw Goddard
• K&L Gates
• Kennedy Van der Laan
• Paul Hastings
• Pinsent Masons
• Reed Smith
• Riverview Law
• Taylor Wessing