Cardiff law firm Hugh James has beaten off the competition to clinch the prize for best large law firm of the year in the inaugural Welsh law awards.

The firm, now the largest in Wales with 47 partners, was up against Eversheds and Morgan Cole but seized the award following a 2002/3 turnover of 25 million.

Ken Thomas, head of clinical negligence at Newport firm Harding Evans, won the lawyer of the year prize, and David Seligman OBE, consultant with Palser Grossman, won the lifetime achievement award for his efforts on the pro bono scene and contribution to the development of Cardiff city centre while serving on the city's council.

Fabio Grech of the same firm was named top trainee.

Cardiff's Leo Abse & Cohen scooped the award for best small-to-medium-sized firm, while Jill Lansing, head of the firm's serious injuries team, was named top legal executive.

Roy Morgan, chairman of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, walked away with the sole practitioner prize for his firm, Morgans and Warren Palmer, solicitor at Cardiff's Speakeasy Advice Centre, picked up the pro bono prize.

Hugh James managing partner Matthew Tossell said the Welsh legal market was benefiting from growing business in the fields of property, employment, insurance, private client and public sector work, but the firm had also increased its business through a more proactive approach to targeting new clients.

The awards were devised by the Western Mail and sponsored by Cardiff Law School.

Paula Rohan