The tenth running of the annual Family Law Awards went ahead as scheduled on Wednesday 25th November. However, since the pandemic meant that our usual venue of the Ballroom, South Bank was unavailable, this took place in an innovative virtual environment instead.
Despite guests having to provide their own celebratory drinks, the switch to online did nothing to dampen the mood, with well over 500 family lawyers logging in on the night and taking advantage of the opportunity to network and visit our sponsors expo both before and after the presentation. The level of audience engagement was high with guests posting congratulatory comments in the chat function.
As the event was free, the audience was more diverse than usual and included both students and overseas lawyers, as well as the leading practitioners from the family law community in England and Wales.
Twenty-one awards were presented on the night, with the highlight being His Honour Philip Waller winning the Cornwell Award for Outstanding Contribution to Family Law. Other winners included Hannah Markham QC, who picked up the award for Family Law QC of the Year for her work with LGBT families and transgender individuals, and the Centre for Justice Innovation, who won the inaugural Family Law Community Interaction Award.
You can watch the awards ceremony here.