News

Cheshire Firm Claims Law Society Excellence Award

27th October 2009

The exceptional achievements of Wilmslow firm Jackson Barrett & Gass have been recognised by the Law Society at its annual Excellence Awards, the most prestigious awards in the legal calendar.

More than 550 leading lawyers and their guests joined BBC Broadcaster Mishal Husain at the black tie dinner and presentation ceremony at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London.

Jackson Barrett & Gass Marketing Manager, Rick Barrow, was presented with the award and in doing so; Jackson Barrett & Gass became the first Law Firm in Cheshire to win an Excellence Award, and are only the 3rd firm in the North West to do so.

Jackson Barrett & Gass were winners in the category of Marketing & Business Development. The judges were impressed by Jackson Barrett & Gass' commitment to developing an approach to supporting house sales including a Home Information Pack of a high standard at a low price, which has succeeded in retaining old clients, attracting new ones and developing profitable relationships with local estate agents.

The judges described the entry as "exhibiting the true art of executing a well-planned and well-researched strategy to build a service which succeeded in marking them apart from their competitors."

Robert Heslett, Law Society President said, "The standard of entries received for the third annual excellence awards has been superb and reflects the high level of innovation that exists across the legal profession. The process of selecting the shortlist was extensive due to the vast number of entries this year.

These winners have made the promotion of best practice an integral part of their work. These awards are part of the Law Society's commitment to promoting excellence in legal services."

Marketing Manager, Rick Barrow, said "We are extremely honoured to have won the award, which ranks us with some of the biggest firms in the country. We have worked extremely hard to make Home Information Packs (HIPs) a positive part of the conveyancing process to ultimately assist our most important stakeholders, our clients.

Instead of simply following guidelines, we have added extra information such as the standard seller information forms and guarantees, but most importantly we have included a full local search from the relevant local authority, as personal searches are simply unreliable. The problem with HIPs doesn't lie with the idea, it lies with the execution of those creating the packs."

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http://services.lawsociety.org.uk/events/awards/excellence/marketingbusinessdev2009

Outstanding Cheshire law firm short-listed for prestigious legal awards

1st October 2009

The outstanding achievements of Wilmslow based law firm Jackson Barrett & Gass have again been recognised by the judges of the most prestigious awards in the legal calendar.

Local law firm, Jackson Barrett & Gass have been short-listed for the Law Society's Excellence Awards in the category of Marketing & Business Development. This follows last year's short listing for Excellence in Client Service. The entry is based upon their use of Home Information Packs to not only gain more clients, but also speed up the conveyancing process for clients, and provide value for money.

BBC Broadcaster Mishal Husain will present the awards at a prestigious celebration dinner and presentation ceremony which will take place at the Royal Horticultural Halls, Greycoat Street, on 22nd October, and once again the principal sponsor is Mercedes-Benz.

The awards reward the most outstanding practitioners in the legal professions and are open to the entire legal sector, not just solicitors. They are designed to recognise best practice across the entire legal profession and to celebrate excellence and outstanding achievement in areas that are central to the profession today. They highlight innovative business and quality of life practices, successful approaches to practice management, contributions through social responsibility and equality and diversity initiatives.

Sean Barrow, Principal at the Wilmslow firm, said, "We feel truly honoured to be shortlisted for the second year running. This demonstrates that whilst we are modest in size, we have the drive and legal knowledge to compete with the big firms."

Rick Barrow, Marketing Manager, said, "We have worked hard to use HIPs in a positive way, by adding extra information and full local searches to benefit our most important stakeholders - our clients. We also make no charge for putting the HIPs together, which clients see as real value for money."

Robert Heslett, Law Society President, said, "The superb standard of entries received for the excellence awards 2009 has been outstanding and reflects the high level of innovation and quality that exists across the legal profession. We have received hundreds of entries from across England and Wales and the short list have been very successful in beating off the competition to reach this stage.

There's no better way to promote the legal profession than to celebrate the excellence and dynamism that exists right across the profession. We can all benefit by recognising and learning from the achievements of the leaders and innovators in our profession. The best entrants will gain the accolade of winning the most prestigious awards in the legal calendar".

To view the full short list go to: www.lawsociety.org.uk/awards

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