Follett Stock Christmas Awards Party

Our Christmas Parties have rightly gained a fabulous reputation over the last 5 years or so.  The venue, entertainment, prizes and many more surprises are kept top secret until the day itself!  This year we threw an impressive Venetian Masked Ball which perhaps even surpassed last year’s Oscars ceremony (with Paparrazi and all!).  As ever our colleagues made tremendous efforts with their costumes. 

 

Our 2009 party lived up to all the expectations despite a few technical hitches due to the icy treacherous road conditions!  A 4x4 vehicle was sent out to collect staff who had not been able to drive through the icy roads and a telephone & video link up was made to our Exeter Office who were well and truly snowed in! 

 

Many thanks to the Three Mackerel at Swanpool for providing us with such a lovely location for our party, putting on a delicious lunch and looking after us with festive food and drinks all afternoon!

 

We were entertained by a caricaturist, a funk band, festive quiz, many raffle prizes, a disco, a very impressive firework display and the annual Follett Stock Awards Ceremony – probably the highlight of the afternoon!  Up for grabs in addition to the prestige are fantastic prizes such as holidays.

 

There are always a number of different categories and this year’s awards and winners are:

   

 ‘Fee Earner of the Year’

Winner: Verity Slater

 

Verity’s success was received to rapturous applause.  Her award reflected her in depth knowledge as the employment lawyer of choice in the Duchy, her abilities as the leader of the largest employment team in Cornwall, her 100% commitment to her clients and her fantastically successful marketing successes which has led to the firm acting for major client after major client this year leaving our competitors frankly floundering.  She is a shining beacon illustrating everything that sets our firm apart and an inspiration to her junior colleagues.

 

‘Support Person of the Year’

Winner:  Kim Rose

 

Kim is a senior member of Follett Stock’s non contentious support team.  She is the primary support person for our busy Employment team and works extremely hard keeping everything running smoothly in very busy times!   It was felt that she had truly blossomed this year and had put in a really outstanding 12 months. 

 

‘Colleague of the Year’

Winner: Alan Robertshaw

 

This category is voted on by the colleagues. Alan is a Barrister and a very popular member of staff, well known for his cheery disposition, his general knowledge on just about any subject you could think (try him) of and his famous Yorkshire wit!  He is a very popular lad.

 

 

‘Sector of the Year’

Winner:  Commercial Property

 

Our Commercial Property Team is headed up by Christopher Stephens who works alongside Ashley Jones and Kathryn Worlock.  This award reflected the sector’s amazing performance in a commercial property recession.  “Bucking the trend” is an overworked phrase but the right one to describe their achievements.

 

‘Up & Coming Colleague’

Winner:  Jessica Piper Thompson

 

Jessica was a popular choice for this award.  She qualified in 2008 and the strides she has made in her chosen field of property litigation have been truly outstanding.

 

‘Best Newcomer’

Winner:  Jonathan Lea

 

Jonathan joined our Corporate Commercial team earlier this year from a large city firm and has not looked back since!  Jonathan specialises in advising businesses and companies on asset and share transactions.  He is an enthusiastic marketer and twitter to boot.

 

‘Client Care Champion’

Winner: Anne-Marie Wilton

 

Anne-Marie is our probate guru.  At the end of every matter all Follett Stock clients are invited to comment on the service they have received.  Every single response relating to Anne-Marie was first class with glowing tribute after glowing tribute.   A brilliant performance bearing in mind the often stressful environs in which she operates.

 

‘Partners’ Special Award”

Winner: Lisa Haywood

 

An extraordinary year for Lisa has seen her excel in her chosen field as a litigator working very closely with our Managing Partner (Chris Lingard) and that’s no walk in the park!  Added to this she has snatched corporate clients from the jaws of our competitors and if that was not enough has also qualified as a solicitor (the hard way) studying part time at UWE on many evenings and weekends over a two year period. 

 

Here’s to Xmas 2010 – when we do it all again….