Pictured:  Sameer Karim (CEO) receiving his Highly Commended Award for Leader of the Year with Mishal Husain BBC Broadcaster who was the presenter to his right and to his left is the President of the Law Society - John Wotton

Having been highly acclaimed for his contribution to the legal sector earlier this year at the Leicestershire Law Society Awards in March, Sameer Karim, CEO of Douglas Wemyss Solicitors in Leicester and practicing Litigation Solicitor, received the Highly Commended Award in the Leader of the Year category at the Law Society Excellence Awards 2011 ceremony which was held at the Old Billingsgate on Tuesday 18th Oct 2011.

The annual awards recognise the most outstanding legal practitioners in their field across the entire legal sector in England and Wales and to celebrate excellence and outstanding achievement in areas that are central to the profession today.

CEO of Douglas Wemyss Solicitors in Leicester, Sameer Karim, received the Highly Commended award for Leader of the Year.  He states of his personal achievement -

"This award means something very special to me as I have lived the last 3 years battling the recession as well as the changes within our industry by the introduction of Tesco Law. I feel honoured that my peers have recognised my innovation and my focus on delivering a service that is currently not available as I understand the commercial challenges in business.

"Being Highly Commended is a positive recognition for me being bold, innovative and as well as being entrepreneurial within a law firm;  this entrepreneurial approach has been our greatest asset as we are at the heart of advising commercial businesses and understand how businesses should operate in today's climate - this is what sets us apart from the crowd.  We are securing more new clients now than we have ever done in the last twenty years - I can only put this down to our levels of service and desire to be different."

The judges' citation stated that Sameer Karim is a leader by example and that his success derives from the respect that he upholds.  He was praised for his innovative approaches in addressing the needs of his clients and launching an online campaign to provide free legal advice and with the opening of Leicester's 1st Legal Shop.  The judges also praised him on his commitment and support of his staff and in leading the way forward for the legal industry to make bold changes in the way services are provided.

The firm, Douglas Wemyss Solicitors who also won Leicestershire Law Firm of the Year 2011 at the Regional Law Society Awards in March this year had made it to final shortlist in an astounding 4 categories including the innovation, marketing and business development, and community investment award categories.  On the night the firm won the Excellence in Client Service Award. (beating some tough competition including a top 5 International firm). The firm has a legal shop open seven days a week, a YouTube channel explaining legal issues and a business and lifestyle magazine as part of its drive to provide other ways for clients to access legal services.

Mr.Karim states:

"I am also extremely thrilled for the firm and all my team for winning the Excellence in Client Service Award.  For us this award is more than just recognition from our peers - what we have here now is a mark of approved excellence that clients can measure against, as it highlights our professional excellence in providing an exceptional service."

The Excellence in Client Service Award highlights excellence in client care and innovative approaches to maintaining and developing client-focused services. The judges looked for practices that demonstrate a leading edge commitment to client care and examples of real efforts in going the extra mile for clients.

Douglas Wemyss Solicitors were commended for the way they provide their services - this includes their extended opening hours, weekend service at their Legal Shop, Mobile Legal Services i.e. travelling to see clients at their home/office at no extra cost, flexible approaches to clients request, and generally meeting the needs of the clients to make things easier for them.

Statement team - "This is a great achievement for the firm and due recognition of the hard work and passion that all the staff at Douglas Wemyss Solicitors put in each and every day to ensure that we provide that best services for our clients - we are always adapting and inventing new methods of engaging with our clients to make sure the service they receive is exceptional - winning this award is a true recognition of our outstanding achievements to date. This has been a fantastic year for us what with winning Leicestershire Law Firm of the Year earlier this year - all we can say is that we are definitely making our mark and being recognised by the industry for our dedication is positively inspiring for all the team."

The firm is the only firm in Leicester to have won a Law Society Excellence Award in its 5 years running and Sameer is the only individual to have gotten as far as being Highly Commended also. An outstanding achievement and a great mark of excellence.