Food for thought at festival

Volunteers from award-winning Dorset law firm Blanchards Bailey LLP played a starring role in the hugely successful Dorset Food and Arts Festival.

And they didn’t have far to go because the annual foodie festival is held in Queen Mother Square, Poundbury where expanding Blanchards Bailey is based.

Volunteers from the firm gave up their Saturday to help on festival organisers Dorset Food & Drink’s stand, meeting and greeting visitors, acting as an information point, handing out flyers and dealing with queries at the one-day festival which promotes the best of Dorset’s food and drink, producers and artists.

The festival, launched in 2012, is run by not-for-profit, community interest company Dorset Food & Drink – the membership organisation for food and drink businesses based in Dorset – and supports four county-based charities.

Blanchards Bailey Associate Claire Southway said: “We love to get involved in the community and this was the ideal opportunity to help the small team of organisers ensure that the very busy festival ran smoothly and successfully. We’ll certainly be back next year.”

Blanchards Bailey’s fully serviced Poundbury office, well-established in Queen Mother Square, also works closely with nearby businesses, charities, farmers, producers and manufacturers.

The firm specialises in providing legal advice to the food and drink industry, with experts in business law, commercial property, HR, employment, and litigation.

Blanchards Bailey is this year renewing its support for the area’s food and drink producers by again sponsoring the Best Vineyard or Distillery category at the prestigious annual Blackmore Vale Taste Awards, which showcases the best the region has to offer.

There is still a chance for the cream of the region’s drinks producers to enter, but hurry as the closing date is Tuesday, August 13, with the winners being announced at a gala prize-giving dinner at Wincanton Racecourse on November 5.

Eighty-strong Blanchards Bailey is a Legal 500 firm – making it one of the top firms in the South West – and, in addition to the Poundbury office, is based in Blandford, Shaftesbury and Weymouth.

The firm received unprecedented recognition in UK's leading law sector directory, the Legal 500. The annual publication, The Legal 500 2018/19, recommends the firm in a record seven specialist categories with 11 individual lawyers mentioned including all five Partners.

Blanchards Bailey also won a hat-trick of titles at the 2019 Dorset Legal Awards: Law Firm of the Year (up to 99 employees), Company Commercial Team of the Year and Private Client Team of the Year.