First, we alert the recruitment contacts at each of the nearly 1,000 firms listed on LCN, asking them to let their trainees and newly-qualifieds know about the survey. They are then invited to assess their own experiences in three areas: training, recruitment and vacation schemes. We receive over 2,400 individual assessments, submitted from over 200 firms and organisations. Once the results have been compiled, we split the firms into 12 different categories, based on size and region. For each of these, one award is given for training and another for recruitment. In addition, we present an overall award for training and recruitment for organisations outside of private practice.
With the number-crunching out of the way, it is then down to the serious business of handing out awards. The event itself is not quite so glitzy as Oscars night, but is still a posh do. Amid the wine and the canapés and the general merriment, the awards are duly awarded. As LCN publisher Matthew Broadbent said: "It is heartening to find evidence that so many employers take seriously their obligation to give their recruits the correct support, opportunity and encouragement at the beginning of their careers. All the organisations nominated for an award can be rightly proud of themselves and deserve the acclaim of their peers, careers advisers, and new and future lawyers alike."
The 2006 Awards
Reminiscent of recent star-studded events in Cannes, the third annual LawCareers.Net/Trainee Solicitors' Group Training & Recruitment Awards were held last night. The glittering awards, attended by 180 guests from 77 law firms, recognised the best recruiters and trainers among the nation's law firms.
Trainees and newly qualified solicitors (NQs) were invited to complete an online survey assessing their own experiences. LawCareers.Net publisher Matthew Broadbent says: "The fact that our survey response has risen again to over 2,500 trainees and NQs underlines the authoritative nature of the results. The winning and nominated forms can be justifiably proud of themselves." Broadbent continues: "We are delighted that so many employers offer their trainees top-quality training and working environments. It is self-evident that organisations seen to excel in their treatment of those entering the business will continue to grow and thrive as the next generation of leaders flourishes."
Drum roll please … and the winners were:
DAVIS & CO
Best Recruiter – Small Firm
KNIGHT & SONS
Best Recruiter - Medium Regional Firm
CAMPBELL HOOPER SOLICITORS LLP
Best Recruiter – Medium City Firm
BURGES SALMON
Best Recruiter - National/Large Regional
ASHURST
Best Recruiter – Large City Firm
COBBETTS LLP
Best Vacation Scheme
REYNOLDS PARRY-JONES
Best Trainer – Small Firm
ASHFORDS
Best Trainer - Medium Regional Firm
VINSON & ELKINS RLLP
Best Trainer – Medium City Firm
WRAGGE & CO LLP
Best Trainer - National/Large Regional
BAKER & MCKENZIE LLP
Best Trainer – Large City Firm
CROWN PROSECUTION SERVICE
Best Recruiter & Trainer Public Sector/In-House
Special mention goes to Baker & McKenzie and the Crown Prosecution Service, as they each won an award for the third year in a row. That sort of hat-trick success is surely a reflection of exceptional training standards - congratulations!
Trainee Solicitors' Group (TSG) chair Genevieve Monclin comments: "It becomes increasingly hard each year to choose winners for the awards, given the consistently high calibre of the young legal professionals themselves, their training and their firms. This is a credit to the whole of the profession. Only by maintaining such excellence at all levels can the legal sector flourish, and the TSG is delighted to be once again recognising these firms through the medium of these prestigious awards."
Here is the full list of nominated firms:
BEST RECRUITER – SMALL FIRM
Buckles Solicitors LLP
Davis & Co
The Endeavour Partnership LLP
Hawkins Russell Jones
Lanyon Bowdler
Vizards Tweedie
Whitehead Monckton
BEST RECRUITER – MEDIUM REGIONAL FIRM
Brabners Chaffe Street
DMH Stallard Solicitors
emw law
Foot Anstey
IBB Solicitors
Knight & Sons
Robert Muckle
BEST RECRUITER – MEDIUM CITY FIRM
Campbell Hooper Solicitors LLP
Covington & Burling
Goodman Derrick
Kendall Freeman
Penningtons LLP
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Travers Smith
BEST RECRUITER - NATIONAL/LARGE REGIONAL FIRM
Burges Salmon
Dickinson Dees
DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary
Eversheds LLP
Freeth Cartwright LLP
Halliwells LLP
Pannone LLP
BEST RECRUITER – LARGE CITY FIRM
Ashurst
Clifford Chance
CMS Cameron McKenna
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Linklaters
Richards Butler LLP
Taylor Wessing
BEST PUBLIC SECTOR/IN-HOUSE RECRUITER & TRAINER
Crown Prosecution Service
DAS Legal Insurance Co Ltd
Denbighshire County Council
Government Legal Service
North Yorkshire County Council
Surrey County Council
BEST VACATION SCHEME
Addleshaw Goddard
Bird & Bird
Cobbetts LLP
Jones Day
Mills & Reeve
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Withers LLP
BEST TRAINER – SMALL FIRM
Alliance Solicitors
George Green
Hansells
HCL Hanne & Co
Maples Teesdale
Reynolds Parry-Jones
Richmonds
BEST TRAINER – MEDIUM REGIONAL FIRM
Ashfords
Birkett Long
Brabners Chaffe Street
McCormicks
Thackray Williams
Thomson Snell & Passmore
Thomas Eggar
BEST TRAINER – MEDIUM CITY FIRM
Charles Russell LLP
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Covington & Burling
Farrer & Co
Macfarlanes
Memery Crystal
Vinson & Elkins RLLP
BEST TRAINER - NATIONAL/LARGE REGIONAL FIRM
Browne Jacobson LLP
Cobbetts LLP
Halliwells LLP
Mills & Reeve
Pannone LLP
Shoosmiths
Wragge & Co LLP
BEST TRAINER – LARGE CITY FIRM
Baker & McKenzie LLP
Berwin Leighton Paisner
Denton Wilde Sapte
Linklaters
McGrigors
Nabarro Nathanson
Richards Butler LLP
