We have won a prestigious national award, beating some of the biggest law firms in the UK, and bringing our haul of national awards in the last two months to six.
Our firm, which has offices in Exeter, Truro and St Austell has been named UK Law Firm of the Year at the British Legal Awards 2016. The awards were announced at a ceremony in London on Thursday, 24 November 2016. Other firms on the shortlist included top 50 law firms such as Mishcon De Reya, Shoosmiths and Mills & Reeve.
The British Legal Awards are the leading awards for the UK’s legal community and are known as the Oscars of the legal profession.
Stephens Scown’s managing partner Robert Camp said: “It is such an honour to be recognised at this level, beating some of the biggest and most innovative law firms in the UK. It is proof that some of the best talent is thriving right here in Devon and Cornwall.
“This award is down to just one thing – the incredible staff at Stephens Scown. We all support each other and share the same drive to do our very best for clients.”
We also won six other awards in the last two months, including: Marketing Excellence Award at the Law Society Excellence Awards; Law Firm of the Year and Best Marketing Campaign at the Modern Law Awards and Law Firm of the Year and Most Innovative Marketing Campaign at the Symphony Legal Awards. The firm has also been selected as the UK champion for customer focus in the European Business Awards and will compete against firms from across Europe.
Our firm exceeded the sector average for growth, increasing revenues by 18%. We also increased our levels of business across the firm, but one of the standout areas has been our corporate and commercial team which has grown by 25% to become one of the largest in the region, working on over 100 deals during the year.
We are one of the first law firms in the UK to introduce an Employee Ownership Trust – Scownership – based on the model made famous by John Lewis, giving all staff an equal share of the profits. We’ve also been placed 12th in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For in the UK 2016, the highest ranking for a professional services firm.