What
Wales Legal Awards 2019
Who
420 people Welsh legal community
Where
Mercure Cardiff Holland House Hotel
Why
To recognise the outstanding achievements of those practicing in and providing services to the legal profession in Wales.
Organisers
Photography by - Matt Horwood Photography
Background
Co-founded by Liz Brookes of Grapevine Event Management, Charlotte Leyshon of Lux Family Law and Professor Dylan Jones-Evans, 2019 was the inaugural year of the Wales Legal Awards. The awards were established after spotting a gap in the market for an award ceremony that would celebrate the many specialised and talented legal teams that can be found across the length and breadth of Wales.
Objective
To organise a black-tie event for over 400 Welsh legal professionals with a three-course dinner and an awards presentation at the Mercure Holland House Hotel in Cardiff.
Photography by - Matt Horwood Photography
Before the Awards
With Yolk Recruitment confirmed as the headline sponsors, the Wales Legal Awards were launched in November 2018. Sponsors from a variety of different legal backgrounds from around Wales came on board for the inaugural year of the awards.
A strong marketing campaign was created using social media to launch the awards. This, along with the help from our sponsors who each were encouraged to promote the awards to their networks, resulted in receiving over 70 applications for the awards.
Once the shortlist was decided, interviews were arranged for all the shortlisted companies. Grapevine contacted all the finalists to arrange their interview date and time. 50 interviews took place over 3 days by a panel of judges that not only consisted of legal professionals based here in Wales, but also a selection of professionals from London based law firms and a representative from the Legal 500.
As well as arranging the interviews, tickets were being purchased, certificates and trophies were being produced and the event visuals such as the programme book, table plan and award presentation were being created.
On the Night
The format of the night was a drinks reception on arrival, followed by a three-course meal then the awards presentation. Sian Lloyd of the BBC opened the ceremony. Grapevine has worked closely with Sian over the years and knew that she would be great to keep the night to schedule.
The Right Honourable Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth also attended and spoke at the Wales Legal Awards. Having being a former professor of law at Swansea Law School, Lord Bourne spoke very proudly of the Welsh legal profession and praised the importance of such an awards ceremony.
The ceremony itself took just over an hour and comprised of 19 awards, one of which was presented to Alan Meredith for his outstanding contribution to the Welsh legal sector.
Result
A successful award ceremony with over 400 people in attendance celebrating their hard work. Acuity Law, a commercial firm focused on the needs of entrepreneurs in the private & public sector, took home the Legal Team of the Year award.
Post awards, there has been media coverage in Business News Wales, Wales Online, Campaign and South Wales Argus.
An incredible £2068 was also raised on the night for the chosen charity of the year, St David’s Hospice Care.
Photography by - Matt Horwood Photography
The Future
It will be interesting to see where the finalists and winners of the 2019 Wales Legal Awards are in the next 12 months. As for the awards themselves, there are already discussions in place for next year’s ceremony and interest in sponsorship, so watch this space!
