DWF won the Diversity and Inclusion Award for a broad range of programmes and achievements including initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic exploring the barriers women face and championing gender equality. The firm's 2025 D&I Strategy received widespread praise, with the judges commenting that DWF is 'a momentum maker that the insurance industry should pay attention to.'
Seema Bains, Partner and head of DWF’s Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Group commented: "This award recognises both the challenging targets we've set ourselves and the considerable progress we've made towards creating a diverse representation across the business."
The firm also won the Outsourced Partner of the Year award for the Special Jurisdictions Team, which handles insurance claims in the Scotland and Northern Ireland jurisdictions.
The team saved insurers £18 million in 2020/2021 and have introduced a completely new approach to tacking claims and managing claims inflation in special jurisdictions.
In the view of the award judges, DWF is “confronting a complicated issue for insurers and delivering tangible results through a totally new approach. The level and breadth of its efforts are impressive, as is the level of support and praise for its work.”
Jill Sinclair, Partner and Head of Counter Fraud in Scotland commented: "We're delighted with the recognition for working in collaboration with our clients to tackle fraud and claims inflation in both Scotland and Northern Ireland. The local knowledge of our lawyers, coupled with our data analytics expertise is a formidable combination."
Finally, DWF won the Insurance Law Firm of the Year award for its pioneering dedicated Somatic Illness Team, which handles claims that can initially present as low-value and then dramatically increase through factors including disproportionate legal costs and exaggeration.
DWF's innovative approach to dealing with somatic illness claims saved insurers £17.8 million in 2020/2021 alone. Earlier this month the team also won the Legal Claims Management Team of the Year award at the Insurance Times Claims Excellence Awards 2022.
Partner and Head of the Somatic Illness Team, John Lezemore, said: "Our strategy combines the considerable experience of our lawyers supported by our data analytics and identification of these cases at an early stage. By identifying cases early and proactively and expertly handling these we are delivering substantial savings for our insurer clients."
When announcing the winner, the judges remarked that DWF is "an excellent performer that makes a compelling case for becoming your legal partner. It’s consistently ahead of the pack, putting itself at the cutting edge of law surrounding claims and doing sterling work for insurer clients.”
