Halsbury's Award winners
Winners 2009
The winners of the Halsbury’s Awards 2009 were announced on Thursday 18 June at the 40th British and Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL) Annual Conference held in Manchester. The awards were presented by Jackie Fishleigh, President of the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians, and Simon Hetherington, Publisher of Halsbury’s Laws of England, representing LexisNexis.
Current Holders
Best Legal Information Services (Non-Commercial Sector): The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies LibraryAs the BIALL President noted:
"The winner in this category is a library that, as a world class research collection and library service, offers the best opportunity within the UK to access the laws of the world in printed and electronic form both to its own University and to those users registered outside. Their team provides legal researchers with an informative, responsive and expert service. They maintain a sizable global collection of resources. But more than that, this service has published research into the information needs and habits of academic law researchers with the aim of understanding and serving our legal community in the best possible manner. The library supports both BIALL and IALL (the International Association of Law Libraries) in various ways and, together with the Bodleian at Oxford and the Squire at Cambridge, they have been involved in insuring that, at a national level, coverage in comparative law (especially where primary material is concerned) is maintained and safeguarded for the common good of all researchers in the field. The award for Best Legal Information Services (Non-Commercial Sector) goes to The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Library, London".
The award was received by Jules Winterton, Associate Director and Librarian, accompanied by his colleagues, Hester Swift, Foreign and International Law Librarian, and Laura Griffiths, Academic Services Librarian.
Best Legal Information Services (Commercial Sector):Clarke Willmott LLP Information Services, Birmingham
Jackie Fishleigh summarised the nominations for this winner:
"The winner of this award goes to an information service that is highly regarded within its organisation. The nominees, of which there were a number, consistently identified this library as providing an excellent research capability and an excellent level of service. One comment suggested they always ‘go the extra mile and seem to be genuinely service orientated’. ‘They are fast, reliable, proactive, informed and ensure, as a fee-earner, you have everything you need on a day to day basis to perform to the best of your abilities as a lawyer.’ Other comments referred to the knowledge among those on the team and their dedication to the law library profession. The winner of the award of the Best Legal Information Service is: Clarke Willmott Information Services Team"
Hazel Hewison, Knowledge Services Officer, collected the award on behalf of her team.
Best Legal Information Services (Commercial Sector) - London Only:CMS Cameron KcKenna LLP Library and Knowledge Centre
Jackie Fishleigh again summarised as follows:
"The winner in the category for Best Legal Information Services (Commercial Sector) – London only, received many nominations from their users within their organisation who all considered that their library delivered an "exceptional" service. Among the comments received were that the library team offered a consistently high level of research assistance, that on many occasions they provided their firm with an exceptional level of service sharing their internal processes and research knowledge in developing the firms internal due diligence system and intranet. One particular comment summed up the quality of this outfit; "What strikes me as most impressive about the team is their drive for continuous change and improvement in recognition that the worlds of knowledge management and technology do not stand still and neither do the information need of their clients."
Another comment was that; "In particular they show speed of response to immediate enquiries, unique access to their physical department for clients, on-going speed of reaction to market developments with commentary and a great personal welcome and partnership with their clients. The winner of the Best Legal information Service (Commercial Sector) – London only – is: the CMS Cameron McKenna LLP Library Team"
The Award was collected by James Mullan, Information Officer at CMS Cameron McKenna LLP, on behalf of Kate Stanfield and the Knowledge & Information Services Team.
Previous winners
2008
Best Legal Information Services (Non-Commercial Sector) :The Law Society Library, London
Best Legal Information Services (Commercial Sector): Ward Hadaway Information Services, Newcastle
Best Legal Information Services (Commercial Sector) - London Only: Sidley Austin LLP Information Services
2007
Best Legal Information Services (Non-Commercial Sector): The Inner Temple Library
Best Legal Information Services (Commercial Sector): Addleshaw Goddard LLP, Manchester
Best Legal Information Services (Commercial Sector) London Only: Sidley Austin LLP Information Services
2006
Legal Information Professional of the Year – Large law firm: Marilyn Siddons-Smith of Hill Dickinson LLP
Legal Information Professional of the Year - Academic: Paul Norman Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
Best Use of Technology in a Library Project: Penny Bailey and Brian Thomas for the BIALL Website
2005
Legal Information Professional - Large law firm: Gail Sanderson, Davies Arnold Cooper
Legal Information Professional - Small/Medium law firm: Michael Oberwarth, Matthew Arnold & Baldwin
Legal Information Professional - Academic: Emily Allbon City University
Legal Information Professional - Special: David Sparrow, Disability Rights Commission
Best Use of Technology in a Library Project: Kate Stanfield CMS Cameron McKenna
