Scots firms win shortlist recognition

Two prominent Scottish legal firms have achieved wider recognition by being shortlisted for awards.

DWF is in the running for the Closing the Education Gap title at this year’s Scottish Business in the Community awards, while Shepherd & Wedderburn are among the contenderts for Competition Team of the Year at The Lawyer magazine's UK-wide 2015 Awards.

The Scottish Business in the Community awards celebrate best practice from Scottish businesses that are taking action to create a fairer and more sustainable Scotland. DWF has been recognised for its innovative education programme 5 STAR Futures, which delivers a range of tailored workshops to over 30 schools across the UK, including St Augustine’s RC High School in Edinburgh and Govan High School in Glasgow.

Founded by DWF lawyer Simon Price, the programme focuses on working with aspirational young people from low income backgrounds, providing them with a practical framework that enables them to improve confidence, build resilience and develop key employability skills. Due to its success, DWF has rolled out a significant programme of activity to support almost 900 students across the UK.

Shepherd & Wedderburn's shortlisting follows its success in winning the same award last year. Its Competition Group, headed by partner John Schmidt has continued to attract a string of high profile market abuse cases and has an impressive track record in competition investigations and litigation both at UK and EU level.

Winners of both sets of awards will be announced in June.