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.

On being Highly Commended, CEO Sameer Karim of Douglas Wemyss Solicitors 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.

Read the full story of Sameer's achievement in this article on the Leicester Mecury website.