Edward Cooke Family Law Highly Commended as Medium Business of the Year 2025
23 June 2025
The team have cause to celebrate after attending the Annual Chichester & Bognor Business Awards, held at the Avisford Park Hotel in Arundel on Friday 20 June 2025.
Having been shortlisted for two awards - Professional Service and Medium Business of the Year, we were proud to be Highly Commended as Medium Business of the Year 2025.
Having started as a team of two in 2018, the firm has now grown to a team of 18, working across three offices, with our Headquarters in Chichester and offices in Brighton & Hove and Farnham. Being Highly Commended at the Chichester & Bognor Business Awards, organised by Chichester Chamber is a real honour and recognises the incredible efforts of our wonderful team. With thanks to category sponsor, Chartered Accountants Blue Spire and the judges for their thoughtful consideration of our nomination.
Celebrating Business Excellence in Chichester & Bognor
The Chichester & Bognor Awards evening is a highlight in the Chichester Chamber calendar, bringing together businesses of all sizes and sectors, who are Headquartered in the region. Chichester and Bognor Regis boasts a vibrant business community, encompassing all sectors of the economy, ranging from well-known brands to specialist businesses and start-ups. It is a fantastic area in which to live and work, and Chichester Chamber run a highly active events programme to help local businesses form connections.
The awards celebrate excellence across a range of categories, including Innovation, Environmental Practices, Customer Service and Business Performance, offering a brilliant platform for uniting and applauding the outstanding achievements within our business community, one that we are proud to be part of.
Hosted by the legendary Shaun Williamson, aka Barry from Eastenders, and featuring live music from The Fabulous Fug Band, the event had everyone—our team included—dancing into the night and enjoying the company of fellow nominees. It was a great night.
Director, Michelle Lewis, commented:
"It was such a positive night, celebrating the best businesses within Chichester and Bognor . We are absolutely thrilled to have been recognised in this way. Hearing our name called and receiving our Highly Commended certificate was a proud moment. It was also a pleasure to meet and chat with Shaun Williamson. The evening was a wonderful chance to relax, celebrate our achievements, and connect with other inspiring local businesses."
Founder and Managing Director, Edward Cooke added:
"We were absolutely delighted to be Highly Commended in the Medium Business Category, a testament to a huge amount of hard work on the part of the team of whom I am hugely proud.
It’s exactly 7 years tomorrow that we first opened our doors for business. In that time, the firm has grown from 2 people to a team of 18, including 7 collaborative lawyers and 5 mediators across three offices in Chichester, Brighton and Farnham.
In those 7 years we’ve achieved a great deal though the thing I’m most proud of (alongside the fact that all of our team are NCDR trained) is our commitment to the communities in which we work.
We work closely with a local domestic abuse charity through which we offer weekly pro bono appointments for victim survivors of domestic abuse. We’ve also supported numerous local charities - most recently at our second Southern Family Law Conference last week we were proud to raise money for the brilliant Surrey children’s disability charity Challengers
As for Friday, it was great to celebrate so many fantastic local businesses at a brilliant event. Thanks to the Chichester Chamber for hosting. Aside from our success, the highlight for me was of course meeting the host for night, the legendary Shaun Williamson, best known as Barry from Eastenders. I enjoyed our chat about music, singing (which he’s rather good at) and what really happened with the dastardly Janine Butcher.
