Company Awards
The Company has three annual awards:
Company Prize
Each year the Company awards a Prize to a Trainee or final year solicitor who has completed one year’s training in the City, has claimed a distinction on the Legal Practice Course and who, based on an essay competition and on an interview with the Master and the Chairman of the CLLS Training Committee, is considered to show the most promise in terms of a future City Solicitor.
To be eligible, candidates must at this date:
• have passed the LPC or SQE 1; and
• be in the last year of either their training contract or their solicitor apprenticeship or have completed at least one year of qualifying work experience―in each case, with a firm of solicitors practising in the City and its neighbouring areas.
Candidates will need to submit:
• an essay of no more than 500 words on a specified subject
• a letter of support from their training principal (or equivalent) within their firm.
Selected finalists will be invited to a short interview with the President of the City of London Solicitors’ Company Rule of Law Society and the Vice-Chair of the City of London Law Society’s Training Committee when the overall winner will be chosen.
The Prize will be presented at a Solicitors’ Company’s annual “Celebration of Impact” event.
Winners
2024 Emily Louise – Hogan Lovells and Oliver Jones – Mayer Brown
2023 Amy-Louise Corry – Taylor Wessing
2022 Alexander Westin-Hardy – Allen & Overy
2021 Charlie Wells – Slaughter and May
2020 Jessica Kung – Clifford Chance LLP
2019 Abdur-Razzaq Ahmed – Pinsent Masons LLP
2018 Marta Zieba – White & Case LLP
2017 Alexandra Doyle -White & Case LLP
2016 Sam Jungyun Choi -Hogan Lovells International LLP
2015 Philip Reid – CMS Cameron McKenna LLP
2014 Daniel Lund – Dechert LLP
2013 Tom Wood – Herbert Smith Freehills LLP
2012 Angus Mercer – Herbert Smith Freehills LLP
2011 Waleed Rasromani – Linklaters LLP
2010 Alanna Bullock – Eversheds LLP
2009 Preena Patani – Ashurst LLP
2008 Bernd Delahaye – Linklaters LLP
2007 Nicholas Pacheco – Jones Day LLP
2006 Claire Tilbrook – Macfarlanes LLP
2005 Catherine Antcliffe – Allen & Overy LLP
2004 Anjali Manek – Addleshaw Goddard LLP
2003 Bobby Vijay Reddy – Slaughter and May
2002 Michael Roberts – Lovells LLP
2001 James Williams Smith – Baker & McKenzie LLP
Distinguished Service Award
Every year since 1985, the City of London Solicitors’ Company has presented the Distinguished Service Award to a suitable candidate who has rendered exceptional service to the Company and/or to the City of London Law Society during the previous year or over an earlier or longer period.
The recipient is chosen by the Master of the Company and the Chairman of the Society and approved by the Court of the Company. The award is given at the Celebration of Impact.
Winners
2024 – Karen Anderson
2023 – Robert Bell
2022 – Patrick McCann
2021 – James Palmer
2020 – Edmund Parker
2019 – Simon James
2018 – William Underhill
2017 – Alasdair Douglas
2016 – Michael Caplan
2015 – Gareth Ledsham
2014 – Rupert Jones
2013 – Tony King
2012 – Michael Chamberlain
2011 – David A McIntosh
2010 – Howard R Jacobs
2009 – C C Perrin
2008 – Anthony L Marks
2007 – Michael B Maunsell
2006 – Simon R Entwistle
2005 – Richard Healey
2004 – Guy A Whalley
2003 – Geoffrey B B Yeowart
2002 – Vanessa J Knapp
2001 – Patrick D Daniels
2000 – Clive A Woolf
1999 – K M T Ryan
1998 – Anthony Pugh-Thomas
1997 – Francis G Sandison
1996 – Janet Sayers
1995 – John M Abramson
1994 – David J C Wyld
1993 – Richard G A Youard
1992 – Charles G J Leeming
1991 – Michael R Mathews
1990 – B M Walker
1989 – Ronnie D Fox
1988 – T J Greenbury
1987 – M A Hayes
1986 – J P Scrafton
1985 – Mrs F L Landau
Wig and Pen
The City of London Solicitors’ Company and the Cily of London Law Society & the City of London Solicitors’ Company jointly award the Wig & Pen Prize for pro bono legal work.
The Prize is open to teams as well as individuals at all levels within the profession. The Prize criteria also includes recognition of outstanding leadership or management of a pro bono initiative or pro bono service to a specific project.
The prize is presented at the “Celebration of Impact” event.
Guidance Notes:
The Wig & Pen Prize for pro bono legal work, provides an opportunity to publicly recognise the invaluable and often unseen pro bono work undertaken across all levels within the legal profession, from trainees and recently qualified solicitors through to associates and senior level partners.
Nominations are sought for those individuals or teams who have made a contribution to broadening access to justice in their communities or who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in ensuring that the legal system is open to all.
In particular, the judges will take into account:
(a) the length of time involved in giving or co-ordinating free legal advice or representation to people who have otherwise failed to obtain access to justice;
(b) the candidate’s involvement in creating or leading new or innovative projects providing free legal services to people who would otherwise fail to obtain access to justice;
(c) the significance of the candidate’s service and leadership, both to their clients and their community; and
(d) an indication of the time spent on the project, to include a breakdown between the time spent during normal office hours and the time spent outside of normal office hours;
(e) the extent to which the individual’s outstanding management and leadership skills have resulted in the establishment or success of a particular project and, by example, have encouraged the participation of others on a pro bono basis.
Nominations can be made by you, your employer or the project you support. Please nominate anyone who you think has been involved in a great pro bono project – whether large or small.
Senior representatives from the City of London Solicitors’ Company and the City of London Law Society will review the nominations and select the overall winner who will receive a monetary award of £1,000 for the pro bono project they support. The winner also holds the prestigious Wig & Pen Trophy for one year.
Criteria
The Wig & Pen Prize for pro bono legal work is open to trainees and all solicitors, either individually or in teams, at any level in their careers, who practise within the catchment area of the City of London.
Winners
2024 – Liam Symonds – Freshfields
2023 – Robert Coleville – Freshfields
2022 – Olivia Clerk – DLA Piper
2021 – Angela Dimsdale Gill – Hogan Lovells
2020 – Sam Cotton – Travers Smith
2019 – Sienna Smallman and Kathryn Collar – Gottleib Steen & Hamilton LLP
2018 – Chloe Mears – DLA Piper
2017 – Guy Macinnes-Manby Cleary Gottlieb
2016 – Natalie Farmer and Christina Edward – Cleary Gottlieb
2015 – Sophie Levett and Jennifer Gibbons
2014 – Rebecca Perlman
Entries for the 2025 Wig and Pen prize are now open here:
Wig & Pen Prize 2025 – open for applications