Finalists: Acuity Legal; Fletcher Day; Moore Blatch & Bermans (highly commended); Wildings Solicitors.

Griffin Law clinched the future of legal services innovation award (mid-sized private practice) in recognition of its ethical litigation project to support various international causes.

The first of these is the firm's work with charity Hear Their Cries, which seeks to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation at the hands of volunteers and employees of aid agencies and the United Nations, as well as prosecuting perpetrators on behalf of past victims. The UN recently said it had recorded 145 instances of sexual exploitation and abuse committed by peacekeepers and UN staff in just one year, none of which had resulted in prosecution.

Griffin Law hopes to change that statistic by preventing abuse occurring in the following ways: strengthening internal procedures at such organisations, protecting victims by providing a confidential whistleblowing service, increasing public awareness, and prosecuting offenders.

That has also meant advising Hear Their Cries on British extraterritorial law relating to child sex offences, which resulted in the charity publicly advocating for sections 71 and 72 of the Sexual Offences Act to apply to the aid industry.

"What they are endeavouring to do is fantastic – head and shoulders above the other entrants," commented a judge.

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