AWARDS ENTRIES FOR LAW FIRMS.
Your firm is doing work worth celebrating.We help you say so, convincingly.
Awards entries sit in an awkward middle ground for most law firm marketing teams. They take real time and real effort. The criteria are exacting. And the window between 'we should enter this' and the submission deadline is almost always shorter than it should be.
Done well, a strong awards entry does more than win. It forces a firm to articulate what it has actually achieved, in language that clients and peers find credible. The discipline of that is worth something on its own.
ELE writes and edits awards entries for law firms and chambers across the UK and internationally. We bring the same rigour to awards work as we do to directory submissions: evidence-led writing, a clear argument, and copy that does not rely on superlatives to make its case.
What makes award entries hard:
Most firms enter too few awards, or too many with too little thought. The problems we see most often:
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- Award entries that describe what a practice does rather than what it achieved that year
- Generic language that could have been written by any firm in any sector
- Claims that are not grounded in specific evidence
- Copy that reads like a brochure, not a submission
- Last-minute drafting that does not do the work justice
We solve all of these.
What we do.
We work with you to identify your strongest cases for entry, then write and edit submissions that make a clear, evidence-based argument for why your firm should win. That means:
- Selecting the right categories and awards to enter (and the ones not worth your time)
- Interviewing fee-earners and marketing teams to extract the substance
- Writing award entries from scratch, or editing existing copy
- Sense-checking entries against judging criteria
- Managing deadlines and submission logistics where needed
- Advising on how to communicate ESG and DE&I commitments accurately, ethically, and within the legal constraints that apply to your firm
We work across the full range of legal awards, from sector-specific practice-area entries to firm-wide recognition, DE&I and ESG awards, and cross-sector benchmarks.
ESG and DE&I awards: a different kind of expertise.
ESG and DE&I awards require something most legal awards agencies cannot offer: a genuine understanding of both the subject matter and the legal sector.
ELE was one of the first agency B Corps in the UK. We have worked with law firms on their ESG and DE&I programmes for years, not just writing about them but understanding how they are built, measured, and communicated. We know how the legal sector operates and we know what credible ESG and DE&I work actually looks like. We understand both sides: the internal programme and the external communication.
That combination is rarer than it sounds.
Many firms have real substance behind their ESG and DE&I programmes. The challenge is articulating it in terms that judges find credible. Awards in this space reward specificity and honesty over ambition and aspiration. Judges are increasingly sophisticated and sceptical of entries that describe intention without evidence, or activity without impact.
We help you make the case properly. We know what the major awards in this category are looking for, we know how to extract and frame the right evidence, and we write entries that reflect the genuine depth of what your firm has done.
The Legal 500 UK ESG Awards alone cover 30 categories, from environmental and sustainability law to social mobility, LGBTQ+ inclusion, and mental health and wellbeing. The Chambers DEI Awards run across six regional editions. BITC and the edie Awards open the field to cross-sector competition, where legal sector entries sit alongside businesses with significantly more resource behind their programmes.
Knowing which awards to enter, in which categories, with which evidence, is half the work. We do that thinking with you.
For US Firmsthe situation is more complicated.
Since 2025, US law firms have faced a hostile regulatory environment around DE&I. Executive orders, EEOC investigations, and FTC warnings have left many firms uncertain about what they can say publicly, what programmes they can run, and how to communicate their values without creating legal exposure.
Some firms have responded by quietly scrubbing DE&I language from their websites. Others have rebranded programmes or withdrawn from public benchmarks they previously promoted. Very few have found a clear path between saying nothing and saying something they cannot defend.
ELE works with firms navigating exactly this. We do not advise on US employment law. But we do help firms communicate ethically and accurately within whatever legal constraints they face, in a way that holds up to scrutiny, reflects what they actually do, and does not overstate or understate. If your firm has genuine commitments to fairness and inclusion, we can help you say so in terms that are honest, proportionate, and legally considered.
For US firms with UK or international operations, the picture is often different again. UK and European clients, recruits, and peers expect firms to have substantive positions on these issues. We help you communicate appropriately for each market, without contradiction.
A straightforward process.
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- Book a consultation. Tell us about your firm's priorities and which award entries are on your radar.
- We assess and advise. We identify the strongest opportunities and the entries most worth your time.
- We draft. Working from interviews, briefing notes, and any existing materials.
- You review. One clear round of feedback, efficiently handled.
- We submit, or hand back submission-ready copy, depending on your preference.
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Great lawyers deserve recognition. ELE helps you get it.
