Finalists: Dentons; Keystone Law; Morrison & Foerster; MRN Solicitors; Reed Smith (highly commended); VWV.

Foot Anstey's project to relieve the strains on overburdened general counsel by providing them with free trainees helped it snag the business development innovation prize.

The Virtual Trainee (VT) programme not only supplies in-house teams with a dedicated trainee for up to 10 hours a week, it also allows those trainees to gain important insights into the challenges those clients face while nurturing long-term relationships with a view to winning more work.

The firm says the VT programme allows it to better cross-sell service lines than it could with traditional secondment programmes, and gives its future lawyers unique client-facing training.

For the client, they get a free extra pair of hands to help solve problems (the VT scheme helped one in-house team align multiple businesses working on a major procurement project, and helped another client obtain specialist Turkish legal advice through the firm's 'good friends' network). During the past year, trainees have spent almost 850 hours with clients.

"Our legal team is constantly busy and extra resource is invaluable. FA's VT has assisted on projects across [the group], which help deadlines be met and efficiencies made. It is a proactive approach which is appreciated across the business," a client commented.

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