Awards
Our awards and accreditations reflect and demonstrate our commitment to our standard of practice and our dedication to providing the best-possible service for our clients, and supporting the wider community.
In the past five years, we’ve been shortlisted for 41 awards, and won 22 of them.
Christina wins CEO of the Year
Our chief executive, Christina Yardley won ‘CEO of the Year 2025’ in the Business Desk East Midlands Awards.
The award highlights the strength of her leadership, driving the growth that has tripled the headcount of Rothera Bray under her tenure. It follows her success as Leader of the Year earlier in 2025.
Seven Awards from Three Best Rated
We won in seven categories in the Three Best Rated 2025 awards, which are based around a 50-point inspection of local businesses.
These awards covered our Debt Recovery, Driving Offence, Employment, Personal Injury and Property teams in both Nottingham and Leicester.
Finalists in the Personal Injury Awards
Our Serious Injury team have been nominated in every category they entered in the 2025 Personal Injury Awards. The full teams have been nominated as ‘Teams of the Year’ for both Catastrophic Injury and Clinical Negligence.
As individuals, Greg Almond is a finalist in the Catastrophic Injury Lawyer of the Year category, Ian Johnson is nominated for Clinical Negligence Lawyer of the Year and Julie Walker is up for Claimant Lawyer of the Year. The finals are in November.
WIRED Trailblazer
We were flattered to be recognised as a WIRED Consulting 2025 Trailblazer.
The accolade celebrates innovative, fast-growing UK companies that are driving growth, leading positive change, and tackling societal, economic, and environmental challenges through technology and pioneering approaches.
Shortlisted for East Midlands Business of the Year
We’ve been shortlisted for the East Midlands Business of the Year by TheBusinessDesk.com. The nominated entries are those businesses that are innovating, disrupting and thriving.
Christina Yardley has also been shortlisted for Chief Executive of the Year. The awards ceremony is in October 2025.
Large Law Firm of the Year – Highly Commended
Our Leicestershire branches were Highly Commended in the Leicestershire Law Society awards 2025, for Large Law Firm of the Year.
It recognises the growth of our firm and the sterling efforts of our Leicester teams.
Professional services winners – cheers duckie
In April 2025, we were crowned #1 for Professional Services in Nottingham. Our Licensing Team accepted the award at the event, run by It’s In Nottingham.
The awards are known as ‘duckies’, from the colloquial Nottingham greeting, “Ey up me duck”…
Triple win at Notts Law Society
We won every category we entered at the 2025 Nottinghamshire Law Society Awards.
Kirsten Wood received the award for Partner of the Year, Georgina Power received Junior Lawyer of the Year, and Sarah Singh won Equality and Diversity Champion. Congratulations all!
Junior Lawyer of the Year
Liam Wicks, Corporate and Commercial Solicitor at our Derby branch, was awarded Junior Lawyer of the Year 2025, at the Derby and District Law Society Awards.
The award recognises his dedication to professional growth, client relationships, business development, and local charity initiatives.
Christina Yardley wins two Leadership Awards
Our CEO, Christina Yardley, won in two categories at the TheBusinessDesk.com East Midlands Leadership Awards, for Company Leader (101+ employees) and Leader of the Year.
Christina said, “Winning these awards is a testament to the dedication and hard work of the entire firm. We’ve created a culture that prioritises people, values work-life balance and strives for excellence in everything we do. This recognition motivates us to keep pushing the boundaries and making a positive impact, both within the firm and the communities we serve.”
Double winners at the 2024 Personal Injury Awards
Our Serious Personal Injury team brought home two awards at November’s 2024 Personal Injury Awards. The team as a whole won Catastrophic Injury Team of the Year, while Julie Walker (second from left) won Clinical Negligence Lawyer of the Year. It shows their unwavering commitment to excellence and their drive to make a real difference for our clients.
Finalists in six categories at the Personal Injury Awards
Our Serious Injury team have been nominated for multiple categories at the Personal Injury Awards 2024. Awards include Team of the Year for Catastrophic Injury, Claimant, and Clinical Negligence. Individual finalists for Lawyer of the Year include Greg Almond, Ian Johnson, Seetal Patel and Julie Walker, again across the categories of Catastrophic Injury, Claimant and Medical Negligence.
Customer Service Champions
We were highly commended in the ‘Customer Service Champions’ category at the 2024 British Wills and Probate Awards . These awards, established in 2018, recognise exceptional service and expertise in the wills, probate, and private client sectors. Receiving this award is a testament to the trust and excellence we strive to provide to our clients.
Triple nominee at the EMC Business Awards
We’re finalists in three categories in the 2024 East Midlands Chamber of Commerce Business Awards. We were nominated in the award categories of Business Improvement Through Technology, Community Impact and Excellence in Customer Service.
Outstanding Client Care
Modern Law Private Client Awards 2024: The firm has been shortlisted in the Outstanding Client Care category at the Modern Law Private Client Awards for delivering exceptional client service, using innovation to improve and maintain client care and resolve issues and demonstrating that client care lies at the very heart of the firm.
Partner of the Year, Solicitor of the Year and Team of the Year
Nottinghamshire Law Society Awards 2024: The firm was shortlisted in not one but three categories at the 2024 Nottinghamshire Law Society Awards: Partner and Head of Personal Injury Greg Almond was shortlisted for Partner of the Year, Senior Associate Solicitor Advocate Grant Benskin was nominated for Solicitor of the Year and our Wills and Probate team were shortlisted for Team of the Year.
Excellence in Customer Service – WINNER!
East Midlands Chamber Business Awards 2023: We won the Excellence in Customer Service category for constantly striving to exceed customer expectations and delivering industry-leading standards of service, as evidenced by the feedback we receive from clients, our call staff and the values our staff follow
Social Commitment and Team of the Year
Enterprising Women Awards 2023: We were shortlisted in both the Social Commitment category for the impact that our CSR policies have had on our staff as well as the wider community, and the Team of the Year category for the work of our Private Client team, who were nominated for their commitment to clients and providing excellent customer service as well as their involvement in community initiatives.
Young Achiever of the Year
Personal Injury Awards 2023: Our Trainee Solicitor Abagail Clark was shortlisted for Young Achiever of the Year for the dedication, expertise and unwavering support she offered to clients and their families who have been the victims of medical mismanagement or catastrophic events or accidents whilst completing her seat in the firm’s Personal Injury department.
Best Workplace Wellbeing
Modern Law Private Client Awards 2023: Rothera Bray has been shortlisted for Best Workplace Wellbeing at the Modern Law Private Client Awards for our strong commitment to providing a positive working environment that supports its staff through our social, financial and diversity and inclusion policies, as well as implementing long-term commitment to supporting the mental health of staff through some staff members completing mental health awareness training, providing flexible and hybrid working, offering wellbeing activities through our staff development forum and providing counselling and a workplace chaplain.
Volunteering and Charitable Impact
East Midlands Chamber Generation Next Awards 2023: The Volunteering and Charitable Impact Award recognises an individual in business who goes above and beyond their role within the company to support local communities and charitable organisations by volunteering. Our Head of Marketing Jo Walchester was shortlisted for this award on the basis of her support of local charities including designing websites for organisations, as well as the inititaives she has introduced within the firm to benefit staff such as our staff development forum, developing a relationship with Nottingham Workplace Chaplaincy, our employee of the month scheme and completing training in mental health awareness.
Community Champion
Nottinghamshire Law Society Awards 2023: Our Head of Marketing Jo Walchester was shortlisted for the Community Champion category at the Nottinghamshire Law Society Awards for the initiatives she has introduced within the firm such as our staff development forum and coaching and mentoring support to staff, as well as developing the firm’s social mobility initiatives and work experience programme and her work benefitting local organisations including designing the websites for NRG Lawyers and Nottingham Workplace Chaplaincy.
Community and Charity Champions
British Wills and Probate Awards 2022: We were highly commended for the Community and Charity Champions category due to several initiatives that we are involved in, including our free legal advice clinics, our association with NRG Lawyers, an organisation that aims to break down barriers for students of non-Russell Group universities who wish to pursue legal careers, our talks to school students about careers in the legal industry and different routes into the profession, as well as our staff benefits and sustainability measures.
Claimant Team of the Year
Personal Injury Awards 2022: Our Personal Injury team have been shortlisted for the Claimant Team of the Year category on the basis of the impressive settlements they have reached for clients, paperless working, effective and innovative management led by Head of Personal Injury Greg Almond, opportunities within the team for career development and progression and outstanding client care, as well as their fundraising activities for several charities.
Lifetime Achievement Award category – WINNER!
Nottinghamshire Law Society Awards 2022: Partner and Head of Wills and Probate Jayne Smith won the Lifetime Achievement Award due to her impact in the local community and the wider profession, her involvement with Nottinghamshire Law Society’s International Committee and her contributions to charitable organisations during her 40-year career at Rothera Bray.
Law Firm of the Year: Midlands and Wales
Family Law Awards 2021: Our Family and Child Care team were shortlisted for Family Law Firm of the Year: Midlands and Wales at the 2021 Family Law Awards on the basis of the quality of the services we offer, recent cases in which the team has acted, services benefitting the local community such as our free legal clinics and testimonials from clients.
Contribution to the Community Award
Nottinghamshire Law Society Awards 2021: We were finalists in the Contribution to the Community category at this year’s Nottinghamshire Law Society Awards for our community initiatives, including partnering with RideWise to launch a survey about people’s cycling habits during lockdown and donating funds to their community bike library; the adaptations made to our legal services during Covid-19 and staff wellbeing and development initiatives.
Excellence in Collaboration Award
East Midlands Chamber Business Awards 2021: We were finalists for the Excellence in Collaboration category for our legal clinics with Derbyshire Carers Association which provide free legal advice to their service users and staff. Over 400 people have accessed the clinics since they were launched, with the firm adapting the clinics to take place via phone or video call during Covid-19 to ensure service users could still access this vital service.
Client Care Award
Modern Law Awards 2020: We were shortlisted for the Client Care Award at the 2020 Modern Law Awards as a result of our high levels of client care from initial contact to the completion of a matter, including our personalised client service, our commitment to training staff to ensure they provide the highest levels of care and our use of technology including e-documents and digital signatures so that clients can access documents and get updates on the matter at any time.
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Posted 9 April 2026
I had the pleasure of working with Lauren Kilbride at Rothera Bray, and I’m so grateful for her support. She was brilliant throughout—her advice was always clear, practical, and incredibly helpful. What really stood out was how approachable and reassuring she was. She was always quick to respond and took the time to make everything feel straightforward and manageable. I genuinely felt in safe hands and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her.
Lisa Reid
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Posted 9 April 2026
Nelissa made the whole process of setting up our estate after we have gone so easy and dare I say, her style made the experience an enjoyable one for such a morbid topic. She has a brilliant way of explaining the complex in a very simple pictorial representation making it it easy to decide the next course of action for our family. Extremely efficient and diligent - she was a pleasure to work with.
Arran
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Posted 8 April 2026
I dealt with Ellie Robinson as my solicitor and she was fantastic, easy to talk to and helped me understand everything as a first time buyer.
Jake Ashton
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Posted 8 April 2026
Ellie Robinson helped us remortgage recently and was a pleasure to work with! She was very knowledgeable and communicative and I will be working with her again in future!
Eliot Morris
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Posted 8 April 2026
Very happy with the excellent service I received from Rothera bray and in particular Will who was very helpful explaining everything in a clear and concise manner. Will is very approachable and clearly very knowledgeable and a credit to his business.
Sarah Newman
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Posted 7 April 2026
Absolute total professionalism throughout. Very thorough and very helpful. Always there to answer questions promptly and held my hand through a very emotional time. The move was quick and easy thanks to Ellie Robinson and her team at Derby, I can’t thank her enough.
Ruth Haywood
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Posted 4 April 2026
I was recommended to Rothera Bray Solicitors and Sara Odedra has been incredible from start to end. Sara has kept us up to date at every stage, has been quick to get back to us via email or phone call and explained anything that we weren't sure of. I would recommend Sara and Julian Ryan again and again - they are an asset to the team and have made this process easy! Thank you!
Carina
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Posted 2 April 2026
A very easy team to deal with. We were kept informed throughout the process which gave us total confidence during the successful sale of our property.
Bob C
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Posted 1 April 2026
Ellie Robinson was fantastic as our remortgage solicitor. Great communication and sorted everything for us! Would recommend to everyone!!
Evie
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Posted 31 March 2026
I recently worked with Will in relation to a settlement agreement and found him to be professional, knowledgeable and very supportive throughout the process. He explained everything clearly, took the time to answer my questions, and ensured I fully understood my options at each stage. I particularly valued his balanced approach — setting out the legal position while also supporting my preference for a more amicable and practical resolution. His guidance helped me feel confident in my decisions and ultimately achieve a fair outcome. I would not hesitate to recommend Will to anyone seeking clear and professional legal advice.
Employment client
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Posted 31 March 2026
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Ellie, our solicitor, ( and Grace) who have been absolutely wonderful in handling a particularly complicated situation involving my late mother’s assets. Ellie has shown exceptional professionalism, patience, and understanding throughout the entire process. At times, I know I may have been a little impatient myself, but she remained calm, supportive, and consistently reassuring, which made a very difficult time much easier to manage, with no hidden costs. I am truly grateful for all her hard work and dedication, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her to others. She is a real credit to your team.
Claire Betts
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Posted 30 March 2026
Had fantastic service from Will recently. He was very professional, friendly and efficient. Highly recommended.
Pete Lambert
Employment law update: what’s changing from 6 April 2026?
From 6 April 2026 employers will face a number of changes to statutory payment rates and employment law compensation limits. These changes, which are the result of both annual rate adjustments and wider reforms under the Employment Rights Act 2025, will increase employer costs, expand eligibility for workers, and require updates to payroll processes, policies and budgeting.
National Minimum Wage increase 2026: what UK employers need to know
Nearly 400 employers have been failing to pay the National Minimum Wage in findings published by the Government recently. This has resulted in them being told to repay almost £7.3 million in wages owed to workers as well as the almost £12.6 million which they will have to pay in penalties.
Conduct in financial remedy proceedings: are we seeing a shift in judicial approach?
Ewan Paton from our Family Law team provides comment for legal practitioners on recent case law developments, and whether the courts may be adopting a more nuanced approach to conduct in financial remedy proceedings.
A hat-trick of commercial property deals
It’s been a busy year for Rothera Bray’s Commercial Property team, including Partner Russell Thompson, who has completed a standout hat-trick of deals that illustrate perfectly the range and complexity of work handled by the team.
Statement about week five of Nottingham Inquiry as survivors prepare to give evidence
As legal representatives for survivors Wayne Birkett and Sharon Miller, standing by them in a legal capacity and personally supporting them and their partners Tracey and Martin; we look ahead to the fifth week of the Nottingham Inquiry with determination and an unwavering commitment to ensuring their voices are heard.
A guide to leasehold extensions
If you own a leasehold property, understanding how lease extensions work is essential, especially as your lease term starts to fall. A decreasing lease can affect your property’s value, mortgage options and future saleability, which is why many leaseholders choose to act before the lease becomes too short.
I’ve reached a financial agreement in my divorce – what should I do next?
Deciding how to divide assets during a divorce can be an emotional and stressful process for many and so when an agreement is eventually reached, it can feel like a weight has been lifted – but before you start looking ahead and planning your future, it is important to make sure you formally record the agreement you have reached.
Corporate team advises Formula Air Group B.V. on UK acquisition of Dust Spares Ltd
Our Corporate team has advised Netherlands-based Formula Air Group B.V. on its strategic acquisition of Dust Spares Ltd, a specialist Midlands supplier of dust extraction products and components.