Hillsborough resilience recognised

Elkan Abrahamson of Broudie Jackson Canter and Marcia Willis Stewart of Birnberg Peirce—solicitors who became the legal faces of the Hillsborough campaign—were the popular winners of the Rule of Law award at this year’s Halsbury Legal Awards ceremony, held in association with NLJ, last week.

Marcia and Elkan were acknowledged for their unshakeable conviction to the pursuit of justice and for their determination to right the wrongs of the Hillsborough tragedy. Christian Fleck, LexisNexis Managing Director UK and Ireland, presented the trophies to Elkan’s daughter, Jessica, and Marcia to a standing ovation.

Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC was acknowleged for his relentless fight to protect people from discrimination and protect human rights and received the Lifetime Contribution award.

Professor William Twining FBA QC received the award for Academic Contribution. The judges applauded his outstanding joint editorship of the Law in Context series, through which he has nurtured generations of legal academics and others, publishing thought-provoking texts on diverse areas of law. The International Law Book Facility (ILBF) was the 2016 charity partner. Lord Thomas, the Lord Chief Justice, and ILBF patron, spoke at the event about the charity’s history, achievements and ambitions.

The awards, which introduced in 2013 to celebrate the contributions of remarkable people across the legal profession, were presented across 10 other categories: Law in the Community/Pro Bono Award (Travers Smith); Legal Journalism Award (Catherine Baksi); Award for Diversity and Inclusion (the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy - Legal); PSL/Knowledge Lawyer Award (Jamini Raja, Professional Support Lawyer at Addleshaw Goddard); In-house Team of the Year (Lightsource Renewable Energy Holdings); Award for Innovation (Costs ADR); Legal PR/Media Comms Award (the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom); Award for Business Development (Gardner Leader); Law Firm of the Year—Exceptional Achievement, (Reed Smith); and Chambers of the Year—Exceptional Achievement (Radcliffe Chambers).