October 3, 2013
What a night, indeed!
The cream of the Yorkshire legal scene came together for a celebration of everything, well, Yorkshire legal on Wednesday 2 October 2013!
Needless to say there was a buzz in the main function room of New Dock Hall in Clarence Dock as a record-setting 400+ attendees were invited in to the music of Groove Anatomy (shameless promotion for the outstanding regional band who also recently played at the wedding of CapeClarke Director, Terry Cape!).
Once inside, guests were treated to a lavish 3 course meal, followed by the centrepiece awards themselves. The wine and champagne was in full flow and it was great to see so many of Yorkshire’s finest solicitors come together for this annual awards ceremony.
The awards kicked off with Ridley & Hall winning the Law Firm (1-10 partners) award before a fist-pumping Chris Allen and Asad Ali picked up the Law Firm (11-30 partners) award on behalf of Blacks Solicitors. It was only a shame the clearly very proud Blacks managing partner wasn’t given the microphone for an acceptance speech (we’re envisaging something more along the lines of Colin Firth rather than Sally Field!).
DWF picked up the Law Firm (31+ partners) award in recognition of a truly remarkable year, which saw them combine with Cobbetts. James Haddleton and Guy Jackson both gladly on stage to usher in a new era for the firm.
The discipline specific awards were next with DLA Piper, UKAR, Eversheds and Squire Sanders taking home the commercial prizes in Property, Litigation, Corporate and Corporate Recovery respectively.
The Rising Star award went to Satpal Roth, managing partner and founder of Kher Solicitors. She was sat on our table – the second consecutive year the nominee sharing the table with CapeClarke has won… obviously being good luck charms for nominees, we are open to offers if anyone wants to take us as their guests next year!
Makin Dixon beat Pharos Legal and Barton Legal to the Niche Law Firm award, before a quick-fire double win for Unity Law. Chris Fry collected the Enterprise Award before Lucy Angus won the most important award of the night (because it was sponsored by CapeClarke Legal Recruitment of course!), the Trainee Solicitor of the Year.
Rounding off the awards, Sarah Day of DLA Piper won both the Managing Partner of the Year and Lawyer of the Year awards. Her surprise was evident in a short speech which exuded class.
As the awards came to an end, guests either gravitated to the dancefloor or the bar – it was great to see some old faces and to catch up with friends of CapeClarke.
All in all, another great night – we can’t wait to be there again next year!
If you have been thinking about a move or would just like some general advice about options in the market, please feel free to contact Terry Cape or Chris Clarke on 0113 2385965.
CapeClarke is a leading niche legal recruitment consultancy operating across Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle, Liverpool and London. Please feel free to check out our priority legal vacancies by clicking here. Please note these legal vacancies are only a small selection of those we have been instructed on, so please get in touch if you do not see a role which looks suitable.
