Awards: DLA Piper; DWF; HLM Architects
A TRAINEE lawyer at DLA Piper’s Sheffield office has become the latest in a succession of young lawyers at the firm to be presented with the Sidney Herbert-Clay prize at the annual Sheffield Law Society Award Dinner.
Robert Spencer was awarded the accolade after achieving the highest marks on the Legal Practice Course at the University of Sheffield and then moving on to practice within the Sheffield City Region.
Partner Richard Norman leads the trainee programme at DLA Piper’s Sheffield office.
He said: “This is the tenth year that a DLA Piper trainee has received this award and reflects our commitment to nurturing and retaining the best legal talent that the city has to offer. The University produces some exceptional young lawyers and by investing in them, we are investing into the city’s legal offering as well as the future of our firm in the region.”
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DWF’s Gail Taylor has won the ‘Straight Ally of the Year’ award in Yorkshire and the Humber for her commitment to advancing the diversity agenda and to creating a supportive working environment for all the firm’s colleagues.
Ms Taylor received the prize at the Stonewall Yorkshire and the Humber WEI 2015 award ceremony in Leeds.
The panel singled out her pivotal role in supporting DWF’s OutFront LGBT networking group that has grown substantially in the last two years from five to over 50 members, and her role in implementing LGBT Confidential, a private helpline that offers DWF colleagues support and confidence to come out at work.
Ms Taylor said: “Negative experiences can still be commonplace in the workplace for those who identify as LGBT. Here at DWF, we are proud to be building a more inclusive, diverse culture that not only enables our people to succeed, but makes DWF an obvious choice for LGBT talent.
“I’m absolutely delighted and extremely proud to be recognised as a Straight Ally by Stonewall and I’m looking forward to working with my colleagues to expand on the work we have done so far.”
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SHEFFIELD-based architects HLM has been awarded two stars by Best Companies, an independent workplace assessment organisation.
The company’s two-star-rating (up from one star in 2013) is derived from the Best Companies Accreditation process.
Each company that puts itself forward for independent assessment is given a Best Companies Index score ranging from 1 to 1000. The score is achieved based on the employee’s responses to questions in the Best Companies survey and covers eight key areas including wellbeing, leadership and personal growth.
Karen Mosley, a director at the company, said: “Moving up to two stars is a clear reflection of the employee-centred company that we strive to be and see no reason why we can’t get up to the maximum three stars when we are next assessed.
“With the recent launch of the HLM Academy, which will provide a unique career blueprint for all 240 employees, we are confident that this will further reinforce our position in the UK marketplace that we offer a great place to work.”
