Five make In-house Rising Star Award shortlist

7th June 2019

Five in-house solicitors have been shortlisted for the 2019 Law Society of Scotland In-house Rising Star Award.

The annual award is open to Scottish in-house trainees or in-house solicitors with up to five years' post-qualification experience. A total of 13 nominations were put forward, the highest number since the award was introduced in 2013.

The five finalists are:

  • Sean Dorian (three years' PQE) – Cloudhelix Ltd, for implementing an "openness" culture change within the business which resulted in significant productivity gains;
  • Caroline Douglas (one year's PQE) – Lloyds Banking Group, for "confidence and business understanding which is particularly impressive for someone so early in her career";
  • John Frame (two years' PQE) – Serco Ltd, for showing "a maturity and skill well beyond his qualification level" when having to step up to legal director;
  • Jennifer Livingston (two years' PQE) – East Dunbartonshire Council, for her ability to communicate complex issues effectively, her versatility and approachability; and
  • Emma McBride (four years' PQE) – East Dunbartonshire Council, for taking on, over and above her regular workload, the lead in promoting a new means of engagement with client services which allows clients to feel empowered and enabled to make key risk decisions.

David Boag, a member of the Society's In-house Lawyers Committee and who led the judging team, commented: "The In-house Rising Star Award is a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase the up-and-coming talent we have within the in-house legal sector and, importantly, is a chance for organisations to acknowledge the talented individuals in their teams.

"The quality of candidates nominated for the award is always very impressive, but this year’s candidates were truly exceptional. All 13 of our nominees have achieved a remarkable success early in their careers and have proven themselves to be a real asset to their organisations and also within their local communities.

"It was extremely difficult for us to come up with our shortlist of five. We’d like to thank everyone who took the time to nominate their colleagues, in particular the in-house team at East Dunbartonshire Council who put forward four fantastic nominations. 

"We’d also like to highlight the nomination by Marathon Oil for their trainee Martyn Ross, who sadly passed away in November 2018. Martyn made an enormous contribution during his traineeship with the organisation and clearly had an exceptional career in front of him. We know Martyn is very much missed by his colleagues and we’re very pleased they chose to recognise his achievements through their nomination.

"Everyone on the shortlist has demonstrated exceptional qualities and all of our five finalists would be very worthy winners – as judges we have a very hard task ahead of us in choosing our Rising Star for 2019."

The winner will be announced at a presentation after the conclusion of the In-house Annual Conference, on Thursday 13 June.