Nominations

The nominations process is designed to unearth as diverse a group of deserving people, teams and businesses as possible. Individuals are encouraged to nominate themselves and others across the range of categories. The same applies to legal teams and businesses.

Entries

Once the list of nominees has been published, the nominees are invited to enter the awards by completing and submitting questionnaires which have been carefully framed to allow for a fair judging process. Individuals, teams and businesses who have not been nominated may also join the process at this stage by submitting entries. The organisers reserve the right to move entries to different categories if it is felt these are more appropriate as well as to adapt the category list to better reflect the nature of the entries. Unsuitable nominations or entries – for example because they do not meet the criteria – will not be published or entered into the judging process.

Judging

A team of judges will be assembled to assess each category; identifying the shortlist and choosing the winners. The judges’ decision is final. The recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award is a joint decision made by the judging panel. Voting will take place to choose the winner after a selection of deserving candidates are identified.

Judges’ conflict of interest policy

Judges will not be assigned to categories in which they, their organisations or anybody working at their organisations are in contention. Before the categories they are judging are confirmed, judges will be asked to flag any potential conflicts, for example the existence of a personal relationship with an entrant. If the conflict is deemed material, the judge will be reassigned to a new category.