Anne Dick named Scottish Legal Awards Lifetime Achiever

Family lawyer Anne Hall Dick was presented with the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2016 Scottish Legal Awards last night, at which Harper Macleod was named Firm of the Year.

Ms Dick, the founding chairman of the Family Law Association in 1989, started her own practice in 1975. In 2003 it merged with Mowat Dean WS to form Mowat Hall Dick, which then became MHD Law. In 2013 she took the Glasgow branch into a separate firm, relaunching as Family Law Matters. A pioneer of mediation and collaborative approaches to resolving family law disputes, she was the first convener of CALM, the association of Accredited Family Mediators in Scotland.

Harper Macleod's success came on the back of another year of strong growth for the firm, with profits expected to rise by 14% to over £9m in the year ending March 2016. It also won Support Team of the Year for HM Connect, the referral service now used by other firms across Scotland.

Lawyer of the Year went to John McGovern, head of MacRoberts' corporate defence team, and Stephen Gibb of Shepherd & Wedderburn collected the award for Chief Executive of the Year after successfully guiding the firm through its acquisition of Tods Murray. 

Other successful individuals were Jemma Ross of Simpson & Marwick/Clyde & Co (Rising Star of the Year), and Mark Harris of Pagan Osborne (Paralegal of the Year).

Further team awards went to Blackadders' employment team, McEwan Fraser's resdential property team, MBM Commercial's litigation team, Lindsays' family law team and the in-house legal team at internet travel search company Skyscanner.

Anderson Strathern received recognition as Employer of the Year, while Scullion Law achieved the Excellence in Client Care title. Strathclyde Law Clinic celebrated another success, winning the Pro Bono Award, while Lindsays took a second title with the Community Contribution Award.

Over 400 guests attended the ceremony at the Edinburgh Assembly Rooms, the 13th year of the Scottish Legal Awards currently sponsored by Scott + Co.

Shonaig Macpherson, chair of the judging panel, commended the breadth and depth of excellence across the entrants – perhaps indicated by a higher than usual number of "highly commended" certificates. These were awarded to Maphee & Partners in the Employer of the Year category, McQueen Legal (Excellence in Client Care), Digby Brown (Community Contribution), DLA Piper (Pro Bono), CMS (Employment Team), and Frances Rooney of Harper Macleod (Rising Star). 

"The volume and quality of the submissions for these Awards is a clear signal of the high value that the profession places on them as an aid to building progressive and successful businesses,” Ms Macpherson said.

Joy McLaughlin of Scott + Co, commented: “Judging by the many and detailed entries we received this year, there is rising confidence in the Scottish legal market which continues to report rising fee levels and increasing numbers of staff. It is a pleasure to play an important part in rewarding this important sector with an annual awards ceremony which is highly respected by those in the sector and which delivers a welcome confidence boost to individuals, teams and firms.”

The awards are operated in support of It’s Good 2 Give and LawWorks Scotland. Over £10,000 has been raised this year as part of the competition.