Specialist IP & Related Services <$20m category

Firms specialising in IP & related services are eligible to enter this category.

Law firms who have an IP practice group as part of a broader offering of services are encouraged to enter in the law category where IP can be selected alongside other relevant award categories. The relevant page to register can be found here

Entrants in the Specialist IP & Related Services Awards category can win the following Awards:

• Best Specialist IP & Related Services Firm (less than $20m)
• Best Professional Services Firm (less than $30m)

We will provide you with your unique survey URL which you can send out to clients inviting them to provide feedback.

The survey takes less than 5 minutes to complete and asks your clients to rate and comment on your firms’ performance in delivering services on a range of criteria including quality, value for money, price and innovation.

To be eligible for award adjudication, your firm must receive at least 30 unique responses (unique individuals rather than unique client organisations) which is the threshold required to deem your data sample statistically valid.

We recommend that when the survey period opens you send your survey link to all clients who have received services from your firm in the last 3 years. The survey period will remain open until 14 February 2025 and during this time you should send regular reminders to your historic client list as well as inviting any new clients that have come on board in the meantime.

This approach will help to ensure you collect as much valuable feedback from clients as possible.

We understand that a lot of firms in this category work on a small number of large engagements and as such might not be able to reach the required 30 responses to be eligible to win an Award.

In the 15 years we have run the Client Choice Awards firms return year on year simply because the feedback gained is so valuable. While it is great to win an Award and reap the benefits that come from that, the biggest benefit is being able to have your finger on the pulse of what your clients really think about the service you provide.

For the Best Specialist IP & Related Services Firm (less than $20m) award you will be competing against other firms who have entered the Specialist IP & Related Services category and law firms who have registered as offering Intellectual Property & Technology services in the Law & Related Services (less than $30m) category.

For the Best Professional Services Firm (less than $30m) Award you will be competing against all firms who have entered the Client Choice Awards across all categories (Accounting & Consulting Services, Built & Natural Environment Consulting, Law & Related Services, and Specialist IP & Related Services).

Once surveying has started, you will be automatically emailed each time one of your clients completes a survey allowing you to both action the feedback straight away and remove that client from future reminders you choose to send out.

After the Award Winners are announced in March 2025, entrants can purchase a detailed feedback report containing all the feedback collected from your clients. This report will give you a snapshot of how your firm is performing down to a geographic and client industry sector level.

An example of this report can be found here.

Subject to the number of firms entering and the volume of sample collected, Beaton will also produce an industry level report containing industry sector and geographical benchmarks to which you can compare your own firms’ results.

These reports will be available for an additional cost and further details will be announced in due course.

Judging the Awards is not related in any way to whether a firm does or doesn’t subscribe to Beaton’s reports.

Beaton makes the utmost effort to ensure the security of your client data.

The invitations for these surveys are the responsibility of solely your firm and, as such, no client list is required to be submitted to Beaton.

Beaton collects the name and email address of each respondent during the survey for verification purposes (i.e. making sure the respondent is a real person) and to identify the individual alongside their scores in your feedback report should they choose to disclose their identity.

Survey data is stored only on secure servers. These servers are encrypted so that if the servers themselves are physically stolen the client files still cannot be accessed. Access to these encrypted servers is restricted to the Beaton research team.

12 months after issuing firms with their feedback reports, Beaton will delete all client data within these reports such that, should you request a replacement copy, you will still see the scores your clients gave you but not which client gave which score.

Respondents have the option of opting in to be a part of future studies conducted by Beaton. The answer to this question is completely up to the respondent and is not a pre-checked checkbox.

A respondent who indicates they are happy to be contacted in the future may be invited from time-to-time to take part in other research related to professional services.

The details of all other clients who choose not to opt-in to future studies conducted by Beaton will be deleted 12 months after feedback reports have been sent out, as per above.