Allen & Overy, Macfarlanes and Travers Smith are among the firms competing to be named Law Firm of the Year at this year’s Legal Business Awards.
Also shortlisted in the flagship category for the awards, which take place at Grosvenor House Hotel next Thursday (7 April), are Mishcon de Reya, Pinsent Masons, Stephenson Harwood and Stewarts Law.
The full shortlists, revealed below, will see high-calibre law firms, in-house teams and individuals competing across 23 categories, including 11 practice area awards.
The finalists for the coveted In-House Team of the Year award are BT, Funding Circle, InterContinental Hotels Group, Roche Products, SABMiller and Skyscanner.
Meanwhile, Ashurst, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Shearman & Sterling are among the firms fighting it out to be named Corporate Team of the Year. In the Dispute Resolution category, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Slaughter and May and a joint nomination for Herbert Smith Freehills and Jones Day are among the contenders.
The winners, which will be unveiled at the gala ceremony hosted by journalist and broadcaster Nick Robinson, will be decided by an independent judging panel for the second year running.
This year’s panel comprises: Nilema Bhakta-Jones, group legal director of Ascential Group; Claire Chapman, general counsel (GC) and company secretary of Daily Mail and General Trust; Kirsty Cooper, group GC and company secretary at Aviva; former vice-president and GC of group legal affairs & compliance at RB Claire Debney; Chris Fowler, GC UK Commercial for BT; FT GC Dan Guildford; Michael Herlihy, GC at Smiths Group; Marks and Spencer’s head of legal Robert Ivens; Alison Kay, group GC & company secretary at National Grid; Zoopla Property Group GC Ned Staple; Nyeem Syed, assistant GC, financial & risk at Thomson Reuters; Tony Williams of Jomati; and Suzanne Wise, group GC and company secretary of Network Rail.
Major winners last year included Osborne Clarke, which was named Law Firm of the Year and Macfarlanes, which won the Corporate Team of the Year award, while Royal Mail walked away with the In-House prize.
mark.mcateer@legalease.co.uk
Click here for further information about the awards.
Practice area awards shortlists
TMT Team of the Year
Dentons
DLA Piper
King & Wood Mallesons
Linklaters
Olswang
Powell Gilbert
Finance Team of the Year
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
Herbert Smith Freehills
Macfarlanes
Pinsent Masons
Simmons & Simmons
Weil, Gotshal & Manges
Restructuring Team of the Year
Allen & Overy
Hogan Lovells
Sidley Austin
Simmons & Simmons
Weil, Gotshal & Manges
White & Case
Competition Team of the Year
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Linklaters
Macfarlanes
Nabarro
Norton Rose Fulbright
Slaughter and May
Energy and Infrastructure Team of the Year
Ashurst
DLA Piper
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
Norton Rose Fulbright
Pinsent Masons
Stephenson Harwood
Dispute Resolution Team of the Year
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
Herbert Smith Freehills/Jones Day
Hogan Lovells
Humphries Kerstetter
Mishcon de Reya
Slaughter and May
Private Client Team of the Year
Boodle Hatfield
Charles Russell Speechlys
Irwin Mitchell
McDermott Will & Emery
Penningtons Manches
Taylor Wessing
Insurance Team of the Year
BLM
DWF
Eversheds
Herbert Smith Freehills
Norton Rose Fulbright
RPC
Corporate Team of the Year
Ashurst
Clifford Chance/Norton Rose Fulbright
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Gowling WLG
Jones Day
Shearman & Sterling
Squire Patton Boggs
Private Equity Team of the Year
Addleshaw Goddard
Clifford Chance
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Latham & Watkins
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
Travers Smith
White & Case
Real Estate Team of the Year
Burges Salmon
Eversheds
Hogan Lovells
King & Wood Mallesons
Mayer Brown
Nabarro
Winckworth Sherwood
Merit awards shortlists
Boutique Law Firm of the Year
Campbell Johnston Clark
Kemp Little
MJ Hudson
Radiant Law
Signature Litigation
Tapestry Compliance
Three Crowns
Lawyer of the Year
Susan Crichton, TSB
Ian Forrester QC, White & Case
David Morley, Allen & Overy
Chris Saul, Slaughter and May
Penelope Warne, CMS
CSR Programme of the Year
CMS
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
ITV
Linklaters
Reed Smith
Simmons & Simmons
International Firm of the Year
Al Tamimi & Company
Arthur Cox
Garrigues
Goltsblat BLP
Harneys
Magnusson
Noerr
Rising Star In-House Counsel of the Year
Carole Deadman, Abbey Life Assurance
Henry Gardener, Markel International
Annaliese Hemsley, BATLaw
Daniel Whitehead, Citibank
Matthew Wilson, Uber
Caroline Withers, Virgin Media
In-House Team of the Year
BT
Funding Circle
InterContinental Hotels
Group
Roche Products
SABMiller
Skyscanner
Management Partner of the Year
Ray Berg , Osborne Clarke
Nick Buckworth, Shearman & Sterling
James Burns, Clyde & Co
Michael Chissick, Fieldfisher
Tim Eyles, Taylor Wessing
Chris Lowe/Lothar Wegener, Watson Farley & Williams
Margaret Robertson, Withers
US Law Firm of the Year
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
Boies, Schiller & Flexner
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
Latham & Watkins
Paul Hastings
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
Ropes & Gray
Legal Innovator of the Year
DAC Beachcroft
DLA Piper
Eversheds
Gowling WLG
Lawyers On Demand
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Legal Technology Team of the Year
Axiom
Berwin Leighton Paisner
Cooley
DWF
Kennedys
Osborne Clarke
RPC
National/Regional Firm of the Year
Ashfords
Bond Dickinson
Brodies
Browne Jacobson
Foot Anstey
Shoosmiths
Stevens & Bolton
Law Firm of the Year
Allen & Overy
Macfarlanes
Mishcon de Reya
Pinsent Masons
Stephenson Harwood
Stewarts Law
Travers Smith
