Who won what: revealed
The legal profession came together last night to celebrate the efforts of the country’s top trainee-rated firms and chambers at Legal Cheek‘s annual awards ceremony.
This year’s Legal Cheek Awards, sponsored by BARBRI and BPP University Law School, was held at The Banking Hall in the City of London.
Three-hundred guests from the UK’s leading law firms and barristers’ chambers joined social media stars and big industry names at the glitzy ceremony.
Following a reception of fizz and canapés, BARBRI managing director Lucie Allen and BPP deputy dean Jane Houston delivered welcome addresses.
Legal Cheek editor and Awards host Tom Connelly was then joined by award sponsors and Legal Cheek student campus ambassadors and staff to announce the winners of the 25 categories making up this year’s ceremony.
The Attorney General for England and Wales Victoria Prentis KC MP and Law Society President Lubna Shuja made special guest appearances to present the winners of categories Best Journal Contribution and Most Admired Law Firm with their prizes.
The winners are based on the results of our annual survey of over 2,000 trainee and junior lawyers.
So who won what? Read on to find out…
Best Law Firm for Training 2023: Linklaters
Highly commended: Addleshaw Goddard, Allen & Overy, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Burges Salmon, CMS, Clifford Chance, Dentons, Farrer & Co, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills, Macfarlanes, Mayer Brown, Mills & Reeve, Osborne Clarke, Pinsent Masons, RPC, Shoosmiths, Slaughter and May, TLT, Travers Smith, Willkie Farr & Gallagher
Best Law Firm For Quality of Work 2023: Farrer & Co
Highly commended: Akin Gump, Burges Salmon, CMS, Forsters, Hogan Lovells, Latham & Watkins, Lewis Silkin, Mills & Reeve, Mishcon de Reya, Osborne Clarke, Ropes & Gray, Shakespeare Martineau, Shearman & Sterling, White & Case, Willkie Farr & Gallagher
Best Law Firm for Peer Support 2023: Forsters
Highly commended: Addleshaw Goddard, Ashurst, Bristows, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Clyde & Co, Dechert, Express Solicitors, Fletchers, Gibson Dunn, Goodwin Proctor, Hill Dickinson, Norton Rose Fulbright, Pinsent Masons, RPC, TLT, Taylor Wessing, Travers Smith, Watson Farley & Williams, Weightmans
Best Law Firm for Partner Approachability 2023: Dentons
Highly commended: Accutrainee, Ashfords, Bird & Bird, Bristows, Debevoise & Plimpton, Eversheds Sutherland, Fieldfisher, Fletchers, Gateley, Hill Dickinson, Morrison Foerster, Orrick, RPC, Russell-Cooke, Shakespeare Martineau, Squire Patton Boggs, TLT, Taylor Vinters
Best Law Firm for Work/Life Balance 2023: Weightmans
Highly commended: Ashfords, Bristows, Charles Russell Speechlys, Clyde & Co, Farrer & Co, Fieldfisher, Fletchers, Forsters, HFW, Hill Dickinson, Howard Kennedy, Kennedys, Russell-Cooke, Shakespeare Martineau, Shoosmiths, Taylor Vinters, Trowers & Hamlins, Wedlake Bell, Womble Bond Dickinson
Best Law Firm for Legal Tech 2023: Allen & Overy
Highly commended: Addleshaw Goddard, Ashurst, CMS, Clifford Chance, Mishcon de Reya, Osborne Clarke, Pinsent Masons, Simmons & Simmons, Travers Smith, Weightmans, Womble Bond Dickinson
Best Law Firm for Perks 2023: Ropes & Gray
Presented by HBW Consulting, a boutique agency that works as a specialist extension to your graduate recruitment team, helping law firms with media strategy, spend and analysis.
Highly commended: Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Milbank, Sidley Austin, Travers Smith, Weil Gotshal & Manges, White & Case
Best Law Firm Office 2023: Norton Rose Fulbright
Highly commended: Allen & Overy, Ashurst, Bird & Bird, Burges Salmon, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Clifford Chance, DLA Piper, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Gowling WLG, Howard Kennedy, Kingsley Napley, Milbank, Mishcon de Reya, Morrison Foerster, Reed Smith, Sidley Austin, Vinson & Elkins, Walker Morris
Best Law Firm for WFH 2023: Walker Morris
Highly commended: Addleshaw Goddard, Akin Gump, Allen & Overy, Bristows, Burges Salmon, CMS, DWF Group Plc, Fletchers, Hill Dickinson, Osborne Clarke, Shoosmiths, TLT, Taylor Vinters, Taylor Wessing, Travers Smith, Weightmans, Weil Gotshal & Manges, White & Case, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Withers
Best Law Firm for Eco-Friendliness 2023: TLT
Highly commended: Burges Salmon, CMS, Charles Russell Speechlys, Clifford Chance, DLA Piper, Hogan Lovells, Lewis Silkin, Mishcon de Reya, Osborne Clarke, Penningtons Manches Cooper, Pinsent Masons, Shakespeare Martineau, Simmons & Simmons, Travers Smith, Wiggin, Womble Bond Dickinson
Best Law Firm for International Secondments 2023: Watson Farley & Williams
Highly commended: Allen & Overy, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills, HFW, Linklaters, Morrison Foerster, Norton Rose Fulbright, Vinson & Elkins, Weil Gotshal & Manges, White & Case, Withers
Best Law Firm for Client Secondments 2023: Bird & Bird
Highly commended: Accutrainee, Bristows, CMS, Dentons, DWF Group Plc, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Gowling WLG, Hill Dickinson, Kennedys, Lewis Silkin, Mayer Brown, Squire Patton Boggs, Walker Morris, Wiggin, Womble Bond Dickinson
Most Admired Law Firm 2023: Clifford Chance
Highly commended: Allen & Overy, Bird & Bird, DLA Piper, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Mishcon de Reya, Osborne Clarke, Slaughter and May, Travers Smith
The Legal Cheek Firm of the Year 2023: CMS
Highly commended: Addleshaw Goddard, Burges Salmon, Clifford Chance, Farrer & Co, Osborne Clarke, Pinsent Masons, TLT, Travers Smith, Weightmans, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Womble Bond Dickinson
Best Use of Social Media 2023: Simranjeet Kaur Mann (YouTube vlogger)
Highly commended: Farzana Abdullah for the Muslim Lawyers’ Hub (Instagram); Taz Aldeek (YouTube); Jordon Goodman aka ‘The Legal Northerner’ (TikTok); Paul Gascoyne, senior recruitment manager at Shearman & Sterling (LinkedIn); JuniorLawyerMemes (Instagram); Rebecca McNeil and Simrhan Khetani aka ‘Becs and the City’ (TikTok); Ali Obeid (TikTok); Maab Saifeldin aka ‘Life with Maab’ (Instagram); Lucy Sallows aka ‘Legally Lucy’ (TikTok)
The winner of this category was decided by an independent judging panel, made up of Amelia Platton (last year’s winner and founder of The Neurodiverse Lawyer Project), Marnie Swindells (The Apprentice star and court advocate) and Ibrahim Mohammed aka Ibz Mo (YouTube vlogger and lawfluencer).
Best Legal Cheek Journal Contribution 2023: Jonathan Binns for ‘The impact of AI on copyright law’
Highly commended: ‘Law firms as social enterprises – the future, or just a CSR pipedream?’ by Bristol University law graduate and Addleshaw Goddard trainee solicitor Bethany Barrett; ‘X marks the spot: Treasure law reforms in England and Wales’ by Sydney University, Australia graduate and future pupil barrister Hillary Curtis; ‘Criminal justice: A system on its knees’ by Liverpool University law student Jakob Fletcher-Stega; ‘The business of sustainability’ by Turkey qualified lawyer and Brunel University LLM student Ece Gorgun Balci; ‘London’s Commercial Court: Under threat, or concern about nothing?’ by Reading University law student Ben Holder; ‘The rights and wrongs of life in the metaverse’ by Bristol University modern languages graduate and future Clifford Chance trainee solicitor William Holmes; ‘Will legal tech doom the billable hours model for law firms?’ by Oxford University history student Lewis Ogg; ‘Secrets and lies: The UK’s troubled regime of freedom of information’ by LSE law student Nhan Pham-Thanh; ‘Seeking asylum: a one-way ticket to Rwanda’ by ULaw law student Teshé Rolle
The winner of this category was decided by an independent judging panel, made up of Lord Sumption (ex-Supreme Court justice), Lubna Shuja (Law Society President), Victoria Prentis KC MP (Attorney General for England and Wales) and Lord Pannick KC (Blackstone Chambers barrister).
Best Chambers For Training 2023: 7KBW
Highly commended: 11KBW, 12 King’s Bench Walk, 2TG, 3VB, 4 New Square Chambers, 4 Pump Court, 4 Stone Buildings, 5 Essex Court, 5 Stone Buildings, 7BR, Blackstone Chambers, Brick Court Chambers, Cornerstone Barristers, Crown Office Chambers, Devereux Chambers, Essex Court Chambers, Falcon Chambers, Fountain Court Chambers, Gatehouse Chambers, Hailsham Chambers, Keating Chambers, Littleton Chambers, Monckton Chambers, Outer Temple Chambers, Quadrant Chambers, Radcliffe Chambers, Serle Court, South Square, Ten Old Square, Wilberforce Chambers, XXIV Old Buildings
Best Chambers for Quality Of Work 2023: 5 Essex Court
Highly commended: 11KBW, 12 King’s Bench Walk, 2TG, 39 Essex Chambers, 3VB, 4 New Square Chambers, 4 Pump Court, 4 Stone Buildings, 42BR, 5 Stone Buildings, 7BR, 7KBW, Blackstone Chambers, Brick Court Chambers, Cornerstone Barristers, Crown Office Chambers, Devereux Chambers, Essex Court Chambers, Falcon Chambers, Fountain Court Chambers, Gatehouse Chambers, Gray’s Inn Tax Chambers, Hailsham Chambers, Keating Chambers, Landmark Chambers, Littleton Chambers, Monckton Chambers, New Square Chambers, Outer Temple Chambers, Pump Court Tax Chambers, Quadrant Chambers, Radcliffe Chambers, Serle Court, South Square, Tanfield Chambers, Ten Old Square, Twenty Essex, Wilberforce Chambers, XXIV Old Buildings
Best Chambers for Colleague Supportiveness 2023: Cornerstone Barristers
Highly commended: 11KBW, 12 King’s Bench Walk, 2TG, 39 Essex Chambers, 3VB, 4 New Square Chambers, 4 Pump Court, 4 Stone Buildings, 42BR, 5 Essex Court, 5 Stone Buildings, 7BR, 7KBW, Blackstone Chambers, Brick Court Chambers, Crown Office Chambers, Devereux Chambers, Essex Court Chambers, Exchange Chambers, Falcon Chambers, Fountain Court Chambers, Gatehouse Chambers, Hailsham Chambers, Keating Chambers, Landmark Chambers, Littleton Chambers, Monckton Chambers, New Square Chambers, Outer Temple Chambers, Pump Court Tax Chambers, Quadrant Chambers, Radcliffe Chambers, Serjeants’ Inn Chambers, Serle Court, South Square, St John’s Chambers, Tanfield Chambers, Ten Old Square, Twenty Essex, Wilberforce Chambers, XXIV Old Buildings
Best Chambers for Facilities 2023: Gatehouse Chambers
Highly commended: 39 Essex Chambers, 4 New Square Chambers, 7BR, Blackstone Chambers, Crown Office Chambers, Exchange Chambers, Fountain Court Chambers, Gray’s Inn Tax Chambers, Keating Chambers, Quadrant Chambers
Best Chambers for Work/Life Balance 2023: Radcliffe Chambers
Highly commended: 5 Stone Buildings, 7KBW, Gray’s Inn Tax Chambers, Henderson Chambers
Best Chambers for Social Life 2023: Crown Office Chambers
Highly commended: 12 King’s Bench Walk, 2TG, Cornerstone Barristers, Falcon Chambers, New Square Chambers, Radcliffe Chambers, XXIV Old Buildings
Best Chambers for Legal Tech 2023: Wilberforce Chambers
Highly commended: 39 Essex Chambers, 3VB, 4 New Square Chambers, 4 Stone Buildings, 7BR, 7KBW, Crown Office Chambers, Exchange Chambers, Fountain Court Chambers, Gatehouse Chambers, Gray’s Inn Tax Chambers, Keating Chambers, Littleton Chambers, Monckton Chambers
The Legal Cheek Chambers of the Year 2023: 4 New Square
Highly commended: 2TG, 4 Stone Buildings, 7BR, 7KBW, Blackstone Chambers, Cornerstone Barristers, Gatehouse Chambers, Keating Chambers, Littleton Chambers, Radcliffe Chambers, Wilberforce Chambers
Legal Cheek Campus Ambassador of the Year: Tomris Guluzade
Sponsored by:
Highly commended: Zainab Adetunbi, University of Dundee; Leah Charlton, University of Newcastle; Hatice Çobanoğlu, University of Law Manchester; Adelina Iuliana Foiciuc, Anglia Ruskin University; Karina Homanko, University of Portsmouth; Eksha Kala, City University of Hong Kong; Rosella Lanza, Loughborough University; Emily Patel, University of Warwick; Nicole Watson, University of Southampton