Legal Business

A&O, Macfarlanes and Travers Smith to contest top prize at the Legal Business Awards

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