Open to firms headquartered in the UK
Winning firms will be able to demonstrate that they have had an exceptional year in Continental Europe, managing the pressures of the economic environment while maintaining high levels of client service. The UK office or offices nominated should be generating work for themselves as well as referring work to other offices in the firm’s network.
Just securing the largest deals will not be sufficient to win the award. Judges will be looking for firms that have won new clients or carried out an innovative transaction or case as well as those that have picked up instructions on their region’s biggest deals.
Firms should be also able to show that they have developed or progressed their strategic vision for the European region during the year – this may be through strategic recruitment or acquisitions, the opening of new offices or the forging of new alliances.
Please provide as much evidence as possible of achievements during the year, including financial performance, examples of deals or cases and new initiatives.
Remember to focus your entry on your Continental European capabilities. The entry need not focus on a single office but can examine your offering across the region.
The entry form will ask you for examples and details covering the below points; the strongest entries should address all these points, though please note it is not compulsory to answer each section and you may weight your answers as you see fit:
- Significant operational developments in Europe within the past year (examples may include new office openings, mergers, management changes, key hires)
- Evidence of initiatives developing referral and cross-border work into and out of Europe (include examples of firms/clients you are working with where possible)
- Evidence of new initiatives in diversity, employee training and development in Europe
- Evidence of how your firm plans to develop its long-term strategy in Europe (include examples of any structural changes and investment planned)
You will also be asked to detail financial performance; it is beneficial to provide some information in this area if possible. If you wish this information to be kept confidential and for judges’ eyes only, please ensure you mark it as CONFIDENTIAL on the form.
Once complete the entry template should not exceed 1,500 words (excluding headers).