Clyde & Co, Anwar and McCluskey lead 2017 Scottish Legal Awards

International practice Clyde & Co was named Firm of the Year at the 2017 Scottish Legal Awards last night, in a ceremony that also saw top honours go to solicitor Aamer Anwar and retired judge Lord McCluskey.

Mr Anwar, who last week was elected rector of Glasgow University, was named Solicitor of the Year, while Lord McCluskey, also a former Solicitor General for Scotland and since his retirement from the bench a sometimes outspoken commentator on legal matters, was chosen for the Lifetime Achievement award.

For the first time, a joint award was made for Managing Partner of the Year, to Scott Milne and Craig Nicol of Thorntons, their firm also being highly commended in the Firm of the Year category.

The award for Community Contribution saw two winners, as the judges were unable to choose between the Faculty of Advocates and Inverness practice Innes & Mackay – which also collected Support Team of the Year.

Clan Childlaw took the Pro Bono award, DWF the Innovation in Practice title, and Blackadders the prize for Excellence in Client Care. McEwan Fraser Legal scored a double success, as Employer of the Year along with the Residential Property Team award (in which Maloco + Associates were highly commended).

Other practice area titles went to Harper Macleod (Litigation Team) and Macleod & MacCallum (Family Law Team), while independent banking group CYBG won In-house Legal Team of the Year.

Completing the individual prizes were Dominic Scullion of Anderson Strathern as Rising Star of the Year (highly commended was Andrew Wallace of Blackadders), and Beth Taylor of Watermans as Paralegal of the Year.