Highly Commended – Law Society Excellence Awards 2019

Highly Commended at the Law Society Excellence Awards 2019

We are delighted to post that our founder Ian Walker has been highly commended in the Law Society’s Excellence Awards – the highest accolade for law firms in England and Wales.

The event in Central London – which attracted more than 1000 guests – is the most prestigious awards ceremony for solicitors in England and Wales. Professionals and their firms are recognised across a range of categories covering all areas of legal practice and business.

These are the most prestigious legal awards nationally.

Excellence in Practice Management

Ian Walker received a commendation in the Practice Manager of the Year category.

The Law Society Practice Manager of the Year category celebrates individuals who have introduced innovative change management initiatives which resulted in significant performance improvements.

The awards ceremony was hosted by BBC Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark  announced that:

“Ian Walker has founded and built a thriving firm in a relatively short period of time. His innovative “multiple client point” service impressed the judges”

Law Society President Simon Davis

Law Society of England and Wales president Simon Davis said:

“In such uncertain times, we must never forget the immense contribution that solicitors make to society. Our work is indispensable to upholding the rule of law. 

“At the Law Society Excellence Awards, we come together to celebrate outstanding success in the sector.

“There are more than 180,000 solicitors in England & Wales: to be highly-commended is to be recognised as among the best of the best.”

Ian Walker and our trip to London

Since Ian founded our practice in 2013 it has grown from being simply Ian and a computer to a team of 8 qualified lawyers and a support team of 7. We are now one of the largest and most experienced teams of family lawyers in the South West.

Ian Walker says;

Whilst my commendation was in an individual category, I am viewing this as recognition of our fantastic team.

There is only so much a person can achieve by themselves. So much more can be achieved through teamwork.

I have a brilliant set of colleagues. All are a pleasure to work with and it extremely rewarding to see the way they achieve the best results for our clients and in the right way.

Unfortunately we couldn’t all make the trip to the awards ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London. Ian was accompanied by team members; Leanne Cornock-Stark, Briony Phillips, Nicole Phare and Sandy Powell. (All in main picture together with Ian and Law Society President Simon Davis)

Because it was half term, Ian’s wife wasn’t able to attend, but Ian’s family were represented by Ian’s oldest daughter Naomi, who works in London, but has previously assisted in the office during university holidays.

What sets Ian Walker Family Law and Mediation Solicitors apart and makes us unique

In the last 6 1/2 years we have built a practice based on:

• Excellence in legal advice and representation
• Promotion of sensible, child focused dispute resolution
• Making best use of cloud based and other software solutions and flexible working
• Using business centres to enable us to assist clients with city centre quality but over a wider geographical area
• A commitment to access to justice via Legal Aid
• A commitment to running a happy and ethical practice promoting diversity and access to the profession (e.g. Real Living Wage).

The area we cover now includes: Exeter, Honiton, Torquay, Taunton, Yeovil and Weston-Super-Mare.

Why being being shortlisted is so important for us

This is the first major awards we have entered (being too busy building the practice). This is the most prestigious Legal Awards, and being highly commended is fantastic recognition of what we have achieved so far.

Because we are getting on with what we do, it is easy to forget or to minimise what we have achieved. The Law Society Excellence Awards have allowed us to take a step back and to take stock or and take pride in what we have done so far. It has very much been a team effort.

We have exciting plans for the next five years, so this kind of marks the end of our beginning.

It is important that we don’t rest on our laurels or stand still. We know that we can do so much more.

We may find the time to enter some other awards, but our clients will always be our priority.

Watch this space to see what we do next….

P.S. If you are a family lawyer or mediator and are interested in becoming part of our journey, please email: [email protected]