Irwin Mitchell Bristol Celebrates Region’s Talent At College Of Law Awards

Partners from Irwin Mitchell’s Bristol office were proud to present awards to the city’s finest emerging legal talent last night during the Bristol College of Law’s annual awards evening.

The firm, which is based at One Castlepark, sponsored the Family Law award, Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence award and the prize for Tort (litigation) at the ceremony which was held at the college on Friday evening (19 October).

Awards were given in 21 categories to mark Bristol College of Law 2012 graduates’ outstanding performance on the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) and the Legal Practice Course (LPC).

Family Law Partner Alison Hawes and Medical Law Partner Julie Lewis presented the Irwin Mitchell prizes.

Lydia Baker won the Irwin Mitchell award for Family Law and also took home the British Academy of Forensic Sciences Legal accolade, which is the College’s national prize for the top mark in Litigation.

Lydia began her legal career studying Law and Psychology at the University of Kent and her first seat will be at a firm with offices across the South in the Family department; the area she hopes to qualify into.

James Archer was presented with the Irwin Mitchell prize for Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence. James completed his LPC at The College of Law last year and has recently started his training contract beginning his first seat in a company commercial department.

Alex Lausen was presented with the Irwin Mitchell award for Tort. She is particularly interested in family, education and mental capacity law, as well as employment and medical negligence.

Kerry James, Centre Head of the College of Law, Bristol said, “The College of Law in Bristol offers a range of post-graduate courses for both aspiring and qualified lawyers and also will be running a new two-year LL.B undergraduate law degree from 2013.

“We are very proud of our students and the support provided by the legal community has been terrific. Sponsorship from firms such as Irwin Mitchell has allowed us to recognise and reward the top performing candidates in each of our subjects. Irwin Mitchell kindly offered to sponsor 3 awards for subjects relevant to the firm’s practice.”

Alison Hawes, from Irwin Mitchell, said: “It was a fantastic evening and we were honoured to be involved and present three awards to the region’s finest emerging legal talent.

“We work very closely with Bristol College of Law and support the high-level of training and support it provides to aspiring legal professionals. The awards evening is a great way to mark the achievements of individuals who are excelling in their chosen career path.

“At Irwin Mitchell we are committed to supporting legal services, taking on 45 trainees nationally every year, and working closely with education providers in the South West to support high quality talent that enable us to retain 80 per cent of recruits year and year.”