After years of paying out hefty legal bills, a group of senior business figures are finally getting the chance to deliver their verdict on the collective performance of the UK’s top business lawyers.

Sir Martin Sorrell (pictured left), the chief executive of WPP, Guy Dawson, founding partner of investment banking boutique Tricorn Partners, and Jeremy Hand, the vice chairman of the British Venture Capital Association, are among a high-profile panel of business leaders who have agreed to run the rule over UK law as judges for the British Legal Awards.