Our goal at ALM is to serve the entire legal community, and as part of that, we're adding new wrinkles to our annual Professional Excellence Awards to make sure we get a chance to highlight the great work and achievements across the full breadth of the Pennsylvania legal community. To that end, while we're still looking for Attorney of the Year, Lifetime Achievement and Lawyers on the Fast Track nominees from all sizes of firms—large, medium and small—we're introducing a number of contests specifically tailored to recognize those at midsize and small firms.

The Legal Intelligencer is accepting nominations in 10 categories this year, including four new categories geared exclusively toward firms with fewer than 200 lawyers. The new categories are: Law Firm Innovators, Best Law Firm Mentors, Power Players and Unsung Heroes.

We are also revamping our Distinguished Leaders and Litigation Departments of the Year Awards to focus exclusively on law firms with fewer than 200 lawyers firmwide. Firms with 200 lawyers or more, meanwhile, will be eligible to participate in ALM's national competition, the Americas Legal Awards. More details on those awards will be announced soon.

The Legal Intelligencer Professional Excellence honorees will be recognized in special editorial sections and a awards dinner in June in Philadelphia.

Please see below for specific guidelines for nominations in each category.

The following three awards are open to participation ONLY from law firms with fewer than 200 lawyers firmwide:

Litigation Departments of the Year – Midsize and Small Firms: As always, we will be honoring the top general litigation departments, as well as specialty areas including: Intellectual Property; Products Liability/Mass Torts; Labor and Employment; Insurance; Professional Liability; Class Action and Appellate Law. However, this year we will be focusing exclusively on firms with fewer than 200 lawyers firmwide. Read the instructions—Litigation-Contest-Small-Midsize—to submit your firm for competition in both the general and specialty area contests to [email protected] by Monday, March 12.

Law Firm Innovators: Many midsize and small law firms are on the cutting edge of the profession.  With lower overhead and fewer layers of bureaucracy than many of their larger competitors, these firms are often nimble, forward-thinking and even experimental in their approaches to offering legal services and growing as organizations. This award seeks to honor law firms, lawyers and legal professionals who push the envelope to build their businesses. For example, this could be a managing partner who's come up with effective ways to attract, train and retain millennial lawyers; a C-suite professional who's developed innovative alternative fee arrangements to woo clients away from larger competitors; an entire law firm that has embraced technology to become more efficient—the possibilities are endless. Boiled down to its essence, this award seeks to recognize those lawyers, legal professionals and law firms who think outside the box and have demonstrated an ability to distinguish their brands in a crowded market. Please submit a 300-500 word nomination with the subject line “Pennsylvania Law Firm Innovators” to [email protected] by Monday, March 12.

Best Law Firm Mentors: Succession planning is crucial for midsize and small firms. In addition, more and more young lawyers are being drawn to these firms for the opportunity to get hands-on legal training. Best Mentors honors those more senior attorneys who have taken it upon themselves to prepare the next generation of legal talent. We are looking for a sage here, someone who has provided valuable knowledge to younger attorneys, paving the way for advancement and stellar contributions to the industry. Please submit a 300-500 word nomination with the subject line “Pennsylvania – Best Law Firm Mentors” to [email protected] by Monday, March 12.

The following three awards are open to participation ONLY from law firms with fewer than 200 lawyers firmwide, as well as corporate legal departments and the public sector:

Unsung Heroes: This award recognizes attorneys who have gone unnoticed for, or were instrumental behind the scenes in, particularly important work. While this award is not limited to lawyers in private practice, any nominees from private practice must work at a law firm with fewer than 200 lawyers firmwide.  Please submit a 300-500 word nomination with the subject line “Pennsylvania Unsung Heroes” to [email protected] by Monday, March 12.

Distinguished Leaders: This award recognizes lawyers who achieved impressive results in the past year and demonstrated clear leadership skills that helped them achieve those results. That could be a litigation team leader winning a notable case against unfavorable odds, a managing partner who helped the firm achieve notable growth during the past year, a judge who oversaw a large mass tort program, a public interest attorney who helped pass legislation or in-house counsel who revamped the legal department. While this award is not limited to lawyers in private practice, any nominees from private practice must work at a law firm with fewer than 200 lawyers firmwide. Please submit a 300-500 word nomination with the subject line “Pennsylvania Distinguished Leaders” to [email protected] by Monday, March 12.

Power Players: This award honors attorneys who, through their advocacy, made a significant impact in 2017 on public policy, legislation or jurisprudence in Pennsylvania. While this award is not limited to lawyers in private practice, any nominees from private practice must work at a law firm with fewer than 200 lawyers firmwide. Please submit a 300-500 word nomination with the subject line “Pennsylvania Power Players” to [email protected] by Monday, March 12.

If you have any questions, please contact managing editor Zack Needles at [email protected] and supplements editor Kristie Rearick at [email protected].