Awards

We won Law Firm of The Year Award for delivering amongst the highest year on year growth of all UK law firms as the business continues to innovate both in legal and technology terms. We lead the way in finding and developing new niche areas of law, and are showing the rest of the legal industry how to survive, and thrive, in continuing uncertainty in the sector by revolutionising the traditional law firm model to a more self-sustaining consumer-facing business.

Our dedication to managing the demands and expectations of our clients shines through as we continue to score highly on independent online review applications with a rating of 4.8/5 for over 9,000 client reviews.

We won Technology Initiative of the Year which looked at organisations that had a technological initiative designed and implemented to benefit the business and strengthen its overall operations.

Having evaluated market-leading CRM solutions, Bott and Co’s IT team decided to build a bespoke solution in-house that created on-going savings to the business across a range of departments and enabled a more streamlined experience to potential clients.

In order to cope with exponential growth in lead enquiries, our in-house IT team designed and developed an innovative ‘Enquiry App’ to assist the award-winning Client First Response Team (CFRT) in more efficient processing of enquiries. It also allows the marketing team greater insight into the effectiveness of individual marketing campaigns.

The Enquiry App has revolutionised the way CFRT record data and take instructions. As a result it has streamlined the process hugely meaning CFRT now need only to input the data once. In the old process data was being input up to three times, in various places, all manually, which of course introduces the possibility of errors.

We won Specialist Team of the Year as our Flight Delay Team continues to pioneer the area of law in the UK, defeating airlines in court and opening up billions of pounds in compensation for millions of air travellers. The work the flight delay team has undertaken has put the Bott and Co brand at the very forefront of legal innovation.

The award recognises that more than 100,000 passengers used the unique and innovative online Flight Delay Claim Calculator in 2016 to process their claims with Bott and Co. The team settled claims for over 40,000 passengers in 2016 and issued more than 10,000 sets of court proceedings in the process.

We were highly commended in the Employer of the Year category where we demonstrated how Bott and Co put employees at the heart of the organisation by offering them outstanding training programmes, progression and continuous career development prospect as well as recognising and enabling career expansion.

Bott and Co have proved it is possible to create a highly-engaged team, provide multiple training and development opportunities, and see rapid returns on this investment with increased productivity, lower staff turnover, and importantly, a long term security for employees in an uncertain legal landscape.

Equal opportunities for Bott and Co mean providing more opportunity to those that need it. To this end we developed an apprentice scheme and took on 10 apprentices (10% of the entire workforce) across different disciplines in the business.

Over the last 12-18 months Bott and Co have proved it is possible to create a highly-engaged team, provide multiple training and development opportunities and see rapid returns on this investment with increased productivity, lower staff turnover, and importantly, a long term security for employees in an uncertain legal landscape.

We were highly commended in the Employee of the Year category – a new category that was open to all employees.

Chris Neale was recognised as an employee who demonstrated outstanding commitment and achievement in his work, someone who consistently delivers, stands out within the organisation as a high-performer through their quality output and professionalism. Congratulations Chris.

We won Small Firm of the Year for the second time, for investing in technology to support clients with small consumer disputes against the onerous opponent of airlines. We are continually pushing the boundaries of this field, taking two landmark cases to the Supreme Court last year. These decisions established binding case law in England/Wales, opening up billions of pounds in passenger compensation.

We won Best Use of Technology for our IT innovation and investment, particularly in the development of our flight compensation calculator: a free and unique flight data system providing air passengers with an online tool that can instantly advise them on the eligibility of their flight delay claim. The online tool means delayed consumers can submit their claim without having to speak to our legal team, making the service accessible 24 hours/day, 365 days/year.

Our Flight Delay Team won Legal Team of the Year for their outstanding work in paving the way for delayed air passengers in the UK. In one year the team won two landmark cases at the Court of Appeal, unlocking billions of pounds in compensation and bringing England and Wales in line with European law. Since launching in 2013 we have settled over 44,000 delayed passenger claims totalling over £14.5 million in flight delay compensation.

We won Marketing Campaign of the Year for our role in raising consumer awareness about flight delay compensation in the UK. An estimated 2.36 million passengers per year in England and Wales have a flight delay claim, but market research we commissioned in 2013 showed consumer awareness of flight compensation was just 30%. Our Communications Team worked hard to increase this figure using PR and marketing, and by October 2014 we found that consumer awareness had risen by 80%. We are now regularly approached by high profile journalists for comment, quotes and advice for stories surrounding passenger flight rights.

We won Technology Initiative of the Year for our flight compensation calculator: a free online tool that instantly advises passengers on the eligibility of their flight delay claim. Our talented in-house IT team created the calculator, which enables consumers to find out whether they have a claim in seconds. The online tool means delayed consumers can submit their claim without having to speak to our legal team, making the service accessible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Bott and Co won the Client Care Initiative of the Year Award for the dedication of our Client First Response (CFR) team in dealing with customer enquiries. The team are available 90 hours per week by phone, email and web chat to answer questions from new and existing clients at a time when suits them and without confusing legal jargon.

Bott and Co won the Marketing Campaign of the Year award for establishing ourselves as the leading flight delay brand and further raising awareness of flight delay compensation. This award was for our handling of marketing and PR surrounding the Dawson and Huzar cases that Bott and Co took from County Court to the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court.

We were winners of Small Firm of the Year for our Bott Academy staff training scheme, our dedication to customer service with the creation of CFR, and investment in IT systems to maximise the speed and efficiency of the claims process for our clients.

Our flight delay Solicitor Coby Benson won the Associate of the Year award for his part in creating the ground-breaking legal service. Bott and Co’s flight delay department was developed following a ruling by the European Court of Justice in October 2012 that paved the way for millions of claimants on delayed and cancelled flights within the past six years under EU Regulation 261.

We were highly commended in Excellence in Client Service for creating our in-house ‘Client First Response’ (CFR) team. The team work to provide a rapid response to enquiries and take on new claims even outside of traditional office hours; they’re available for over 90 hours per week including until 9pm in the evenings, at weekends, and bank holidays. The judges also highlighted our unique flight delay case management system which sends automatic email status updates every time there is a new development in a client’s case.

We were also shortlisted for Excellence in Marketing & Communications for our efforts in raising awareness of flight compensation. Our multi-channel campaign used online and offline tactics to successfully contribute to an 80% jump in consumer awareness of flight compensation, without any spend on traditional advertising.

We won Excellence in Business Development & Innovation for ensuring that our customers are firmly at the centre of all aspects of our operations. We’ve committed significant investment to our Client First Response team, extended our opening times far beyond traditional office hours, introduced web chat and automated claim status updates, and expanded our social media offering.

Coby Benson was highly commended in the Junior Lawyer of the Year category for his help in establishing a new legal service in delayed flight compensation. The judges highlighted his 12-month meteoric rise from a promising personal injury solicitor to a technical legal manager and leading authority in the UK on EU Regulation 261.

We won Team of the Year for the tremendous effort it took to move our flight delay department from concept to launch in just two months, including the integration of IT systems across two countries. The award also recognised our flight delay compensation services and what we provide for passengers unable to recover their rightful compensation from airlines themselves

Bott and Co Solicitor Coby Benson won Rising Star in recognition of his role in establishing the flight compensation team at Bott and Co, providing an innovative compensation recovery service to passengers on delayed or cancelled flights. As the first service of its kind in the UK, Coby has been responsible for taking a number of airlines to court and winning on behalf of air passengers.

On receiving his award, Coby Benson said: “I was stunned and delighted to receive this recognition at the Modern Law Awards. With the flight compensation service only launched in February this year it has been an intense 12 months but we’ve had some amazing successes as a team and I wouldn’t be winning this award without all the wider support and involvement from the firm and its superb staff.”

Bott and Co won the ILEX Employer of the Year award in 2010 in recognition of our unique internal training programme – Bott Academy. The Academy was established as part of our ongoing commitment to giving Bott and Co staff members the opportunity to develop their professional career with the appropriate study programmes.

All staff members who enrol on an approved course are provided with a Bott Academy learning pack to help them plan their study time and keep a record of their achievements. We’re dedicated to helping all our staff reach their full potential; enabling them to provide the best possible service for every one of our clients.