Ward Hadaway ‘Highly Commended’ at top industry awards

Ward Hadaway, a leading UK Top 100 law firm, has been ‘Highly Commended’ in the coveted 2017 Law Society Excellence Awards.

The annual awards ceremony, which took place in London, saw a range of UK leading law firms competing across a number of categories.

Ward Hadaway was the only North East headquartered firm to be recognised at the prestigious event.

The firm was ‘Highly Commended’ in the Excellence In Technology award category which celebrates the innovative use of technology in delivering services for clients. Judges acknowledged the firm for its unique market-leading planning service for developers.

The visual Title Overlay Plan (TOP) service helps developers, particularly housebuilders, identify and understand problems and constraints with new sites they are looking to acquire and develop at an early stage.

The legal firm’s success follows a strong year for its Property team which was named UK Regional Law Firm of the Year for Real Estate in the Legal 500 Awards 2017.

The team has also continued to attract new clients and build on its leading position after seeing demand for its work rise by 20 per cent.

Its specialist “Plot Sales Team” acts for many of the UK’s leading housebuilders, advising them on the sale of newly completed homes and on part-exchange transactions.

The team successfully completed the sale of 3,336 new homes in the 12 months to the end of April 2017 at many new development sites across the country.

This represents over 2% of all new homes built during the period in England, meaning more than one in every 50 new houses in the country has seen Ward Hadaway involved in its sale.

The TOP service has also recently been shortlisted in the British Legal awards, organised by Legal Week in the Best Use of Technology category.