Burges Salmon has won the titles of ‘Community Engagement Law Firm of the Year’ and ‘Junior Lawyer of the Year’ at the Bristol Law Society Awards 2021.
Hosted by President of Bristol Law Society, Ben Holt, the Awards took place at The Marriott City Centre Hotel in Bristol and are designed to showcase excellence within the local legal profession.
Community Engagement Law Firm of the Year
The firm’s win in the ‘Community Engagement Law Firm of the Year’ category recognises its commitment to the ‘Working with Schools’ programme throughout the pandemic.
The programme combines in-house activities along with support to community-based organisations to enable a dynamic portfolio of; work experience, career guidance, mock interviews, curriculum enhancement, CV reviews, mentoring, confidence building, skills development, workplace engagements, project work and insight sessions.
The firm adapted the programme to support less-advantaged students by providing financial funding, deploying volunteers, hosting on-line sessions, creating new virtual content, establishing new collaborations and donating books and IT equipment.
Burges Salmon’s Working with Schools Programme during the first year of the pandemic: collaborated with 39 community organisations; contacted 127 schools with opportunities; reached 528 students beneficiaries; and, deployed 207 Volunteers.
Junior Lawyer of the Year
The ‘Junior Lawyer of the Year’ accolade was awarded to Legal Apprentice India Jenkins, who having started at the firm after completing her A-levels, is now coming to the end of her fifth year of Burges Salmon’s Apprenticeship Scheme.
As part of her role in Burges Salmon’s Employment Law team, India has represented a key client of the firm – a large, national retailer – taking responsibility for a number of employment tribunal claims.
She has successfully defended various claims and confidently managed the entire tribunal process from start to finish, acting as an extension of the client’s in-house team and working at a level well beyond her years of experience. Clients have said that she “puts them at ease dealing with legal matters” and has an “effortless way” of building rapport with them.
Burges Salmon’s Managing Partner, Roger Bull, comments: “I am delighted that the firm has been recognised with these two significant accolades at this year’s Bristol Law Society Awards.
“The Community Engagement award comes hot on the heels of the firm being named CSR Team of the Year at the Insider South West Dealmakers Awards last month along with Kirsty Green-Mann, our Head of Corporate Responsibility, receiving the ESG Officer of the Year accolade at the Women in Governance, Risk and Compliance Awards earlier this week.
“It’s also wonderful to see India being named Junior Lawyer of the Year. As a key member of our Employment Law team, and with comments from clients and colleagues such as ‘India is a truly fantastic lawyer, whose knowledge and skill is that of a much more senior specialist’ and ‘India’s contribution has been first class…she is exceptionally willing, shows great enthusiasm and the quality of her written work is well above average’, it is really great, but no surprise, to see this accolade awarded to India. She exemplifies the quality and commitment of all our junior lawyers.”
Winners of the Bristol Law Society Awards 2021 were announced on Thursday 14 October 2021.