Creating a new innovative approach to business has put East Midlands’ law firm Flint Bishop in the running for a top European professional services award.
The firm has been shortlisted in the Mould Breaking Firm of the Year category of the European Practice Management Awards – an accolade which last year went to global accounting giant BDO Stoy Hayward.
Organised by the MPF, the Managing Partners’ Forum, the awards – which are open to all professional service firms – focus on the contributions different disciplines bring to successful management.
The Mould Breaking Firm of the Year award recognises those management innovations which have not only improved a firm’s prospects but have also made waves in the professional services sector.
Flint Bishop, with offices in Derby, Nottingham and Ashbourne, has introduced significant changes to the way in which it manages its business in recent times.
Named as the UK’s fastest growing law firm by the Lawyer, it has shunned several merger approaches in favour of organic growth and has restructured its equity so that a firm which five years ago had 15 equity partners now has six out of a total of 22.
Managing partner Ken Dixon – who with senior partner Ian Beardmore ceased fee earning to concentrate on management and strategic issues – said Flint Bishop was delighted to make the shortlist of such a prestigious international competition.
He added: “The European Practice Management Awards are recognised not only by the legal sector but the wider professional services community and attract some of the biggest and most respected players in the European market.”
First launched in 2002, the awards are seen as an integral part of the MPF’s ‘unsung heroes’ campaign and are judged by a panel of 30 senior management consultants from the UK, mainland Europe, North America and Australia.
This year’s winners will be announced at an awards ceremony at The Marriott Hotel in London on October 10.
Inclusion on this awards shortlist is the latest in a long line of high profile achievements for Flint Bishop.
Last month saw the firm top a national diversity league table and earlier this summer it was shortlisted in the Lawyer’s Regional Law Firm of the Year award.
In addition, Ken Dixon also became the first legal professional from the East Midlands to make the Lawyer’s Hot 100 when he featured in the list’s management category.