A total of 30 winners were chosen out of 276 finalists after Lawyers Weekly received a record high of 834 submissions.

The finalists competed for trophies across 26 individual and three group submission-based categories.

Click here to see the full list of this year’s winners.

All eyes were on who would take home the coveted Excellence Award, given to the highest-scoring individual winner.

This year’s recipient was Macquarie University’s senior lecturer in law, Dr Madeline Taylor.

Dr Taylor, who is also the director of research training at Macquarie Law School, was named Academic/Researcher of the Year earlier in the evening.

Other individual winners included a barrister, general counsel, partners, senior associates, sole practitioners, special counsel, thought leaders, mentors, and the rising stars of tomorrow across the legal profession. Law firms were also recognised for promoting and implementing diversity policies across their firms.

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Members of the legal profession celebrated the achievements of leading women in law while networking with industry leaders and their peers.

Australian lawyer, comedian, and television presenter Corinne Grant was the emcee at the awards and provided entertainment throughout the evening.

The Women in Law Awards is the biggest event that recognises the influence of exceptional women across the Australian legal industry, championing women across the legal profession and presenting an opportunity for them to showcase their talents and achievements.

This year’s ceremony celebrated the best and brightest women in law who have gone above and beyond for their firm, organisation, and clients, including executives, academics, pro bono, students, and many more.

The awards were open to all individual women and businesses operating across Australia.

Judged by a well-respected panel of academics, business executives, entrepreneurs, and innovators, the Women in Law Awards are peer-reviewed recognition of the capabilities of women in the legal profession and their passion for propelling the industry forward.

The judging criteria for award categories are both quantitative and qualitative, acknowledging growth, business development, diversity, leadership, innovation, business excellence and contribution to Australia’s legal sector.

Finalist submissions were delivered to a panel of respected professionals and business leaders, who assessed each submission against the criteria of each award category.

The judges scored each part of the submission across the category’s criteria and gave an aggregated score. A number of judges individually assessed each submission for each category to offer a blended score and assessment.

The combined judging scores for each submission for each category were tabulated, with the highest-scoring submission deemed the winner.

Editor Jerome Doraisamy said: “It is always such an honour for Lawyers Weekly to host the annual Women in Law Awards.”

“This year’s list of winners is as inspiring as it is talented. Our judges did an incredible job of choosing individuals to take home trophies from such a stacked pool of nominees,” he reflected.

“Women lawyers in Australia continue to raise the bar, both for those coming through the ranks and for their male counterparts nationwide.”

Lawyers Weekly would like to thank all of its partners for their invaluable support, including:

• Principal partner: nrol
• Gold partners: Azure Medicolegal, CT Group, Empire Group, LOD + Consilio
• Event partners: Cyber Daily, HR Leader, LawCPD, Naiman Clarke, Sharp & Carter, TIMG
• Diversity partner: LEAP
• Supporting partner: Women of Australian Legal Technology (WALTA)
• Research partner: Agile Market Intelligence
• Philanthropic partner: So They Can
• Charity partner Invictus Australia

For more information about the Women in Law Awards, click here.