At a glittering awards ceremony last Thursday, the Birmingham Law Society handed out gongs to the cream of the Midlands legal community. Including a Firm of the Year award for the President's firm.

In the fractured West Midlands market, there are multiple awards for Law Firm of the Year. Top billing - for firms with 16 or more partners - went to Higgs & Sons, in a contest described as "fierce".

However Dean Parnell, the President of the Birmingham Law Society - and a partner in the dispute resolution team at Sydney Mitchell Solicitors - presented the "Law Firm of the Year (five to fifteen partners)" award to, errrrrr, Sydney Mitchell Solicitors.

    Some free and fair elections yesterday

The Society declined to comment, but its website says that the award winners are picked by a panel of independent judges. Which is no doubt true - still, it doesn't look very good...

Birmingham Law Society has a dangerous YouTube habit, and RollOnFriday hopes to be able to watch footage of the ceremony in due course. Regular readers will recall the magnificence of these videos.

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