The evening started with the firm maintaining their stronghold on the Paralegal of the Year award, with Letitia Ait-Tales picking up the accolade, which the firm has now won for four consecutive years.
Partners Mark Cook and David Alcock were then on hand to receive the award for Business Team of the Year, which recognises achievements of the commercial team across the firm’s core sectors. Some of these achievements include the £280m publicly listed bond for WMHG to build new affordable homes across the Midlands; and the joint venture projects between Trafford HT and L&Q, and between Watford CHT and Watford BC.
Led by Partners and Sector Leads, Jas Tamber and Rankeshwar Batta, representatives from the Private Client Team followed Mark and David to the stage to collect the award for Private Client Team of the Year. The team provides support to clients across wills, trusts and probate, family and childcare, clinical negligence, and personal injury claims.
Reflecting on the award, Rankeshwar said: “The award reinforces the excellent reputation the private client team has for the work it does supporting a variety of clients. This year we acted on a £100million prenuptial agreement, secured over £50million in compensation for clients to rebuild their lives following catastrophic injuries and represented over 100 children and 50 parents in Court following local authority intervention. I am proud to have a team that is genuinely committed to improving the lives of individuals and puts them first and foremost in everything they do.”
Jas remarked: “We’re so proud of all of the team and everything they have achieved this year, particularly of the work they do with some of the most underprivileged and isolated clients in need of support.”
Rounding off the evening, ACS won Law Firm of the Year award (16 partners or more) in recognition of its commitment to improving communities and society. Achievements in 2017 included advising Marketing Birmingham on its transformation into the West Midlands Growth Company and ACS’ high-profile work nationally with Care England on the sleep-in crisis affecting the social care sector. The award also recognised the 30% growth of the firm over the last two years through attracting like-minded recruits and clients looking to make a wider contribution to society.
Commenting on a successful night, Peter Hubbard, Senior Partner, said: “To win one award would have been brilliant, but to come away with four awards shows just how distinctive we are as a law firm. We’re not afraid to say that our purpose is to improve lives, communities and society, which means our clients get a committed ACS team, who really buy into what they are looking to achieve.”
Mark added: “This is not the story of an ordinary law firm, but it is a tale of how passionate lawyers can use corporate, commercial and people skills to achieve much more for a better society. Rooted in Birmingham, we influence the national agenda and bring solutions to clients across the country.”
The European Court has upheld the long-standing principle that parties to a dispute should be able to choose their lawyers without having to go through a tender process (or use a framework).
On 8 July, news broke of the staggering fine of more than £183m the ICO intended to levy against British Airways as a result of a hack that took place in 2018, compromising 500,000 customers' data.
The Government has been refused permission to appeal a decision ruling that transitional arrangements in public sector pension schemes are discriminatory.
The Lifeline Project was a well-regarded charity. Failure to carry out the targets within the contracts led the charity into insolvency and resulted in a personal, 7-year disqualification order.
Many local authorities have assessed that a trading subsidiary or trading structure could be beneficial as part of generating income or the service delivery matrix.
On 23 July, trainees from Anthony Collins Solicitors will host an ‘experience day’, which will involve various activities and presentations, with lawyers and non-lawyers from across the firm.
The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) has launched a new scheme specifically for charities and not-for-profit organisations who want to advise EU citizens on UK settlement.
In the second part of our series on contract management pitfalls, we look at the risks and opportunities presented by payment mechanisms in construction contracts.
The Government has resurrected its plans to cap the termination payments for exiting employees in the public sector.
Under most construction contracts, the contractor takes on the ground conditions risk. However, a recent case has demonstrated that the risk can fall on the employer.
To receive invitations to our events, as well as information and articles on legal issues and sector developments that are of interest to you, please sign up to Newsroom.