Judging

Judging for the Legal Excellence Awards follows a three-step process.

Firstly, the judges assess entries in their assigned categories independently and confidentially, in accordance with the agreed judging philosophy and scoring framework. Through this stage, should any judge identify a conflict of interest, be this actual, perceived or potential, then they will bring this to the attention of the Chief Judge who will ensure this is acknowledged and, where appropriate, the entry will be re-assigned to another judge to assess.

Following this initial review period, judges will then convene in category-specific panels to moderate their scoring and collectively agree on the category finalists and winner. In the event that a panel fails to agree on a final result, the Chief Judge will participate in further moderation to help it arrive at a consensus.

The final step of judging is for the Chief Judge to review the nominated finalists and winners to ensure the judging framework has been applied consistently.