Clive Thomas, Managing Partner of Watkins & Gunn Solicitors has been named as a finalist in the IoD Wales Director of the Year Awards 2012.
Clive is a finalist in the South Wales Director of a Small Business category and now goes forward to the IoD Wales Director of the Year Awards Lunch where the very best in Wales business will be celebrated.
Held at the SWALEC Stadium later this month, Simon Walker, Director General, IoD and Rt. Hon Carwyn Jones AM, First Minister of Wales, will address guests and finalists before the winners are announced.
The second year of the awards scheme, sponsored by Cardiff Business School, sees 21 business leaders selected as finalists.
Robert Lloyd Griffiths, Director of IoD Wales, said: “The economic climate over the last few years has not been easy for business and there continues to be a high level of uncertainty. We are facing unique challenges as a nation and as business leaders. It is for those who see these challenges as opportunities, for those who are able to adapt and grow and for those that take the calculated risks and push the boundaries in their sectors that we are again looking to champion success and highlight inspired business leadership. Clive has been selected by our judges to be a finalist in this year’s awards because he epitomises this in what he has achieved at Watkins & Gunn.”
Clive took on the role of Managing Partner of Watkins and Gunn Solicitors in 2007. Since taking the helm he and his Partners have transformed the firm from a high street practice into a dynamic, nationally recognised award-winning South Wales law firm with offices in Cardiff, Newport and Pontypool.
A Leading Wales Award winner in 2011, Clive has successfully led the firm through the recession, evolving the firm’s offering and procedures, to buck the trend and achieve a 20 per cent increase in turnover last year. On top of client satisfaction levels being at an all time high with an overall satisfaction rating of almost 99%, in 2011, Watkins & Gunn won the Law Firm of the Year Award by the 360 Legal Group and was praised for being ‘one of the most innovative law firms in the UK’.
On being shortlisted for the award, Clive said: “I’m honoured to have been selected as a finalist in these prestigious awards. Our success as a firm has been very much a team effort and I have been very fortunate to have such superb business partners as Jonathan, Sophie and Sarah.
“We have worked extremely hard to create a culture of continuous improvement in the firm with our aim of constantly ‘exceeding our client’s expectations’. I am very proud of my team for rising to the challenge once again this year, despite an increasing competitive legal market. Going forward we fully intend building upon our success and continuing to provide our clients with an exceptional service.”