18 October 2004 LAWFUEL – Law, legal, attorney, law firm newsDLA picked up a clutch of awards at the MPF 2004 European Practice Awards, held on 14 October in London. DLA was named ‘Mould Breaking Firm’, collected the runner-up award for ‘Best HR Initiative’ and was placed third for ‘Best CRM Strategy’. The awards, which are organised by the Managing Partners’ Forum, are now in their third year and were set up to recognise the contribution of marketing, HR, technology, finance, knowledge and innovation to the management of professional firms in Europe.
Judges commended DLA on its innovative approaches to managing and growing its business, which has allowed the firm to make 13 acquisitions and reach number seven in the UK law firm league table. DLA’s submission for the ‘Mould Breaking Firm’ award was based on three key elements: a strong vision driven from the top, a well-defined and executed management approach that is cascaded down into regions and practice areas, and the support and commitment of DLA’s people.
“We are delighted to have gained yet more industry recognition for our success in growing DLA into an international firm at the top of our profession,” said Nigel Knowles, Managing Partner, DLA. “We believe in continually pioneering innovative ways to manage our business and in striving to build partnership relationships with our clients – all our staff contribute towards reaching these aims, including our ‘unsung heroes’, such as the HR, IT and marketing people recognised in these awards.”
DLA’s submission for ‘Best HR Initiative’, which won the runner-up award, focused on DLA’s benefits package, which has recently been re-launched to ensure it complements the company’s values and helps recruit and retain the best people.
DLA was also commended for its successful implementation of a customer relationship management (CRM) programme across multiple countries. The programme has been central to the integration of DLA’s multinational operations and aims to provide consistent approaches to client interaction and gathering client feedback.
Last week, DLA’s IT Director, Daniel Pollick, also won IT Director of the Year at the Legal IT awards run by Legal Week and Legal IT. The award recognized Daniel’s consistent leadership and vision in transforming DLA’s IT department into a global, innovative and cost-effective IT service since taking up his position in 1998.
DLA’s success at the MPF 2004 European Practice and Legal IT awards follows a string of recent accolades, including ‘Most Effective Benefits Package’ at the HR Excellence Awards 2004, inclusion in the Financial Times Great Place to Work and Sunday Times Best Company surveys and ‘Excellence in Practice Standards’ at Law Society’s Gazette Centenary Awards.
