Law Firm Celebrates Two Wins In A Row At Legal Business Awards

National law firm Irwin Mitchell are no stranger to winning awards for their first-rate legal work – but now they have twice as much reason to celebrate after picking up the same prize for the second year in a row.

At last night’s Legal Business Awards, held at London’s Grosvenor Hotel, the firm collected the award for Private Client Team of the Year – the same category they won last year.

The awards, organised by Legal Business magazine and now into their 20th year, recognise the achievements of the finest lawyers in the industry. Winners are chosen by an external judging panel of legal experts.

Irwin Mitchell’s Private Client team received the accolade for their work across areas of law such as family; contentious probate; personal tax; and will, trusts and estates. The team’s nomination was thanks to their efforts on two ground-breaking cases in particular.

The first of these was the high-profile case of Roocroft v Ball, in which Helen Roocroft was given the right by the Court of Appeal to argue for a fair settlement following the death of her wealthy partner of 18 years, Carol Ainscow.

This landmark victory is the first to consider the discovery of non-disclosure of assets after the death of one of the parties, as evidence emerged that Ms Ainscow may have misled the courts regarding the extent of her wealth during the dissolution of hers and Ms Roocroft’s civil partnership. 

Ms Roocroft now has the opportunity to set aside her original, smaller settlement and pursue a fair settlement based on the true disclosure of assets. The case was handled by Ros Bever, expert family and divorce lawyer at Irwin Mitchell.

The nomination also acknowledged the work of Paula Myers, Irwin Mitchell’s national head of contentious probate. In another landmark case, Paula and her team represented Joy Williams, who faced losing her home after her partner’s death.

Although Williams had lived with Norman Martin for 18 years, he had never formally divorced his estranged wife. Following Martin’s sudden death from a heart attack, his ex-wife stood to inherit half of the home he had shared with Williams.

The case was widely reported, and won in Williams’ favour thanks to the efforts of Paula Myers and her team.

Craig Marshall, Partner and CEO of Personal Legal Services at Irwin Mitchell, said:

Expert Opinion

“In all that we do, clients come first, and our expert lawyers work incredibly hard to get the best possible outcome for them. Our talented team have worked on some ground-breaking cases this past year, but everything receives the same level of care and attention, not just our high-profile work.

“We are always proud to be recognised for our efforts, but to win the same award two years running is really special. It highlights the fact that we are a law firm delivering consistently excellent results for the people we serve.”
Craig Marshall - Group Chief Executive Officer