The Legally Ballroom finale was held on 21st November, hosted by our corporate partner, law firm Hogan Lovells. 22 volunteers took to the stage including our very own Corporate Partnerships Manager Margaret Ruttle. The dancing duos had ten weeks to prepare, and all attended professional ballroom dancing lessons to perfect their moves.  

The theme of the evening was a Winter Ball, and all attendees were dressed to impress, including the judge of the evening none other than BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing’s Shirley Ballas together with two former Hogan Lovells Legally Ballroom winners. Performing the quick step, waltz, samba, and jive all the volunteers gave a fantastic effort – it was apparent that all the practice had paid off! Ultimately one winner had to be crowned the Legally Ballroom 8 champion and this went to Paps Andrews and Daniel Yip.  

We spoke to Margaret about her experience on the night: 

“A huge thank you from me and my dance partner, Lee for your support of our Legally Ballroom challenge, it definitely pushed us way out of our comfort zone!  The event raised a whopping £51,000 for the Wildlife Trusts which is amazing and beyond all expectations.  

It was a fantastic evening with lots of sparkles, glitter, and brilliant dance moves - from some couples!  We did a quick step and a waltz, the judges were very generous with their scoring, we got an 8 from Shirley for both dances” 

Overall, Legally Ballroom raised over £51,000 for The Wildlife Trusts including the London Wildlife Trust and the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country. This sum was raised through the dancer’s fundraising pages, couple 'buy-backs', silent auction, and raffle. This remarkable amount of money will be put toward The Wildlife Trusts’ mission to protect and restore 30% of the land and sea for nature's recovery by 2030.  

We want to thank Hogan Lovells, who are a global law firm working from both London and Birmingham. The firm has supported the Wildlife Trusts not only through the Legally Ballroom Event but also by voluntarily providing the Trusts with legal advice. The Wildlife Trusts in turn have set up initiatives such as “Wild Work Days” and monthly Wild Wednesday Lunch and Learns to inspire Hogan Lovells’ employees to engage with wildlife and habitats in our cities. 

We are so proud to have been a part of Legally Ballroom and want to thank Hogan Lovells again for the support Legally Ballroom has provided, furthermore we wish to congratulate and thank all of the brave volunteers who danced incredibly on the evening!