CMS, White & Case, Pinsent Masons and Allen & Overy were among the top law firms fielding winners at the inaugural Women in Law Awards today, alongside outstanding achievement recipient Dana Denis-Smith.

The online event, which can be viewed here, culminated in the acceptance by Obelisk Support founder and chief executive Denis-Smith of the Special Contribution Award for her work spearheading The First 100 Years Project, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of the parliamentary act that allowed women to enter the legal profession.

Award presenter, Global Legal Post chief executive Mary Heaney, said the project had “caught the imagination of the legal profession” by “highlighting the achievements of prominent women lawyers who have made it to the top despite the obstacles in their way”.

One such role model is this year’s Woman of the Year, top criminal law advocate Mary Prior QC. The co-chair of Women in Criminal Law – Midlands and chair of the Midland Circuit Social Mobility Programme, “eloquently described the challenges she faced becoming a top lawyer given a background that was far removed from that of the vast majority of her colleagues at the top of the profession”, according to the judges.

Other major winners were: CMS senior partner Penelope Warne, who was named Law Firm Leader of the Year; Dealmaker of the Year White & Case’s Laura Sizemore, head of the capital markets section for EMEA; and Pinsent Masons’ Kate Emily Dodd, who won the Unsung Hero category for her work promoting the Mindful Business Charter, which is backed by an array of top law firms and banks.

Allen & Overy won Gender Diversity Project of the Year for a returners programme that achieved ‘excellent results’, according to the judges, while Simmons & Simmons got the nod in the Diversity Project of the Year category for its BAME diversity action plan, based on the recommendations and principles of the Race at Work Charter.

Among the other individual awards winners were: Aarti Thakor, director of Legal Services at the Charity Commission, whose work building charity regimes in developing countries was noted by the judging panel in awarding her the Legal Adviser of the Year gong; Mentor of the Year, Memery Crystal chair Lesley Gregory; and Twanieka Alcindor, of Alcindor Law and Tuckers Solicitors, who was named Rising Legal Services Innovator of the Year.

Winner of In-house Lawyer of the Year was Sonia Janday, of Aviva Investors, who the judges praised for leading her company's D&I agenda.

Barrister/Advocate of the Year was Clare Wade QC who has, according to the judges, been instrumental highlighting the plight of victims of different facets of domestic violence including coercive behaviour. “It is an area of law that is still vastly underdeveloped, inconsistent and lacking in sufficient understanding,” said one judge.

The judging panel included Evelyn Styles, UK and Ireland general counsel at Hays; Kathleen Russ, senior partner at Travers Smith; Joanna Harris, head of responsible business at Simmons & Simmons; Tuvia Borok, executive director and senior counsel, legal department, Goldman Sachs; and Nicholas Cheffings, chair of PRIME, an alliance of law firms across the UK that is committed to improving access to the legal profession through work experience.

The finalists for the UK awards, which were supported by The Global Legal Post, were whittled down from 800 nominations.

The awards are the latest in a series of diversity events delivered by Incisive Media, including The Women in Insurance Awards, The Women in Accountancy and Finance Awards and The Women in Investment Awards.

Click here for a list of all the winners