Double Top: Hall Brown Wins Second Successive Law Society Commendation 

Published on 19 October, 2020 | James Brown

Hall Brown has completed a notable double with back-to-back commendations from the Law Society.

The firm, which was only launched four years ago, was Highly Commended for the second successive year in the Society’s prestigious annual Excellence Awards.

Hall Brown had been one of five nominees in the Medium Law Firm of the Year category.

Judges said that the firm had shown “serious commitment to the wellbeing of their staff, most clearly demonstrated by their extremely low turnover”.

Managing Partner and co-founder James Brown described how the commendation had capped another year of substantial growth in operations, personnel and turnover.

The Law Society’s recognition follows Mr Brown and co-founder, Senior Partner Sam Brown, being Highly Commended in the 2019 Excellence Awards for their efforts in helping to save a court system designed to prevent the children of parents addicted to drugs or alcohol from being taken into care.

Mr Brown said: “To be acknowledged in this way once again by our peers is a source of great pride, all the more so given that they have focused on the team spirit which we have worked hard to foster.

“During the past 12 months alone, we have been very fortunate in making further very important additions to our staff, in Manchester and London as well as in Sheffield – the newest of our three offices.

“We believe that we have assembled an incredibly capable team of lawyers and administrative staff, providing clients with the kind of specialist support to deal with some very challenging circumstances.”

The Law Society’s Excellence Awards’ are described as “testament to the outstanding work accomplished across the legal profession” and cover 23 separate categories, ranging from individual to firm-wide and sector-specific prizes.

Instead of the usual single prizegiving ceremony, winners were this year announced during a series of online events, something which organisers suggested underlined “what has been a very challenging year”.

Hall Brown was the only family law specialist and the only Manchester-headquartered firm to be nominated for one of the three size-based categories.

The Law Society’s commendation comes just weeks after Hall Brown was praised as “simply the best in the North West” as it retained its its status as a Tier One firm in the prestigious Legal 500 rankings for the third successive year.

Late last year, Hall Brown was also cited as being “exceptional” by Chambers and Partners, retaining its place as a Band One practice. In addition, it was named among The Times’ 200 Best Law Firms in England and Wales for the second successive year.

After opening an office one of the newest prime office locations in Sheffield city centre at The Balance office development on Leopold Square in April, Mr Brown said that the venture had “far exceeded expectations”.

Headed by Partner Alison Fernandes, it has already made a series of appointments following an influx of cases from across Yorkshire, Derbyshire and even abroad.

The recruitment took Hall Brown’s total number of staff in Sheffield, the Grade II-listed Ship Canal House in Manchester and its London office at Lincoln’s Inn Fields to 43 – 31 of whom are fee-earners.

During the last full financial year, the firms’s turnover topped £4.3 million – an increase of £800,000 on the previous 12 months.