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Latham, Macfarlanes and TLT up for the top prize as shortlists unveiled for Legal Business Awards 2023

Latham & Watkins, Macfarlanes and TLT 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 will take place at Grosvenor House Hotel on 19 September, are Bird & Bird, Squire Patton Boggs and Stewarts.

The full shortlists, revealed below, will see high-calibre law firms, in-house teams and individuals competing across 30 categories at the 26th Legal Business Awards.

The finalists for the coveted In-House Team of the Year award are HSBC, Vodafone, SSE, Compass Group and Twitch.

City giants Slaughter and May, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Herbert Smith Freehills are among the firms fighting it out to be named Corporate Team of the Year, while in the Commercial Litigation category, Quinn Emanuel, Simmons & Simmons, and CMS are among those in contention.

Meanwhile, our ESG Programme of the Year award sees a host of major law firms and chambers up against each other, including DLA Piper, Keystone Law, and New Square Chambers.

This year sees a number of new categories introduced, including Barrister of the Year, Energy/Infrastructure Team of the Year, In-House/Law Firm Collaboration of the Year, Life Sciences Team of the Year, and Marketing Initiative of the Year.

The winners, which will be unveiled at the gala ceremony hosted by actor, writer, and producer Sally Phillips, are decided by an independent judging panel of senior in-house counsel.

This year’s panel comprises: Nicola Putland, GC – Data, Digital & Delivery at Lloyds Banking Group; Ruwan De Soyza, group GC and company secretary at Xplor; Alessandro Galtieri, deputy GC at Colt; Dan Guildford, GC, The Financial Times; Matthew Wilson, GC, Fremantle; Terra Potter, GC EMEA/AP, Hexcel; Clare Wardle, GC, Coca-Cola Enterprise Partners; Rosie Teo, GC & chief compliance officer, Salary Finance; Angus McBride, EVP and GC at News UK; Natalie Salunke, GC, Zilch; Lara Oyesanya, Group GC and Company Secretary, Zepz; Joy Van Cooten, Associate GC- EMEA & APAC, ACI Worldwide; Rupa Patel, GC, Awaze; Merley Okine, GC, Ebiquity; Vivienne Inmonger, Head of Legal, Risk and Compliance, McGee; Nigel Paterson, GC at Dixons Carphone; Nayeem Syed, senior legal director technology procurement at London Stock Exchange Group; and Samantha Thompson, consultant and former head of legal global M&A, Anglo American.

Major winners last year included Shoosmiths, which was named Law Firm of the Year and Travers Smith, which won two awards.

Mark.mcateer@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business Awards 2023 – the full shortlist