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‘I never saw this as impossible’ – Mishcons’ Shaistah Akhtar on the case that won her Commercial Litigation Team of the Year

Mishcon de Reya‘s hard-fought victory for Nigeria in Nigeria v P&ID saw the firm take home Commercial Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards in September. The team assisted Nigeria in challenging a $6.6bn arbitral award made in favour of BVI-incorporated shell company Process & Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID) in 2017. With interest accruing at $1m a day, the team sought to overturn the award on the basis of fraud.

But, when the firm was instructed in 2019, Nigeria was almost three years past the deadline to bring the set-aside challenge. Before the team could even begin to present its fraud case (the result of a massive global investigation effort), it had to fight to extend the deadline – and achieved an unprecedented extension, granted in July 2020.

The team’s hard work paid off. On 23 October 2023, judgment was handed down in Nigeria’s favour by Mr Justice Knowles. It was found that P&ID had obtained the award, now worth over $11bn, by fraud.

Shaistah Akhtar, partner in Mishcons’ dispute resolution group, spoke to LB about getting the call from Nigeria, the biggest hurdles the team overcame, and the pressures of a case with national and international repercussions.

Continue reading “‘I never saw this as impossible’ – Mishcons’ Shaistah Akhtar on the case that won her Commercial Litigation Team of the Year”

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Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner: The Client’s View

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Lawyers and
Team Quality

81.93

Quality of partners 84.52

Quality of associates 74.14

Partner availability and engagement 83.99

All scores are global and /100.

What do clients really think about the service they receive from law firms? At Legal 500, we hear from hundreds of thousands of clients every year, rating firms on key metrics such as lawyer quality and availability, billing, and levels of communication and expertise.

The answers we receive allow us to evaluate firms using a set of client service data scores, covering Lawyers and Team Quality, Value: Billing and Efficiency, and Sector and Industry Knowledge – all of which combine to produce an overall Client Service Score.

This article focuses on Lawyers and Team Quality, for which Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner scores 81.93. (The rest of this article is available to logged-in users only. If you are unable to log in above right, please click ‘Forgot your password?’ below to gain access to the full article). Continue reading “Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner: The Client’s View”

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Latham & Watkins: The Client’s View

Latham & Watkins

Lawyers and
Team Quality

85.21

Quality of partners 88.73

Quality of associates 81.14

Partner availability and engagement 86.01

All scores are global and /100.

What do clients really think about the service they receive from law firms? At Legal 500, we hear from hundreds of thousands of clients every year, rating firms on key metrics such as lawyer quality and availability, billing, and levels of communication and expertise.

The answers we receive allow us to evaluate firms using a set of client service data scores, covering Lawyers and Team Quality, Value: Billing and Efficiency, and Sector and Industry Knowledge – all of which combine to produce an overall Client Service Score.

This article focuses on Lawyers and Team Quality, for which Latham & Watkins scores 85.21. (The rest of this article is available to logged-in users only. If you are unable to log in above right, please click ‘Forgot your password?’ below to gain access to the full article). Continue reading “Latham & Watkins: The Client’s View”

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Hogan Lovells: The Client’s View

Hogan Lovells

Lawyers and
Team Quality

81.20

Quality of partners 84.08

Quality of associates 76.19

Partner availability and engagement 83.46

All scores are global and /100.

What do clients really think about the service they receive from law firms? At Legal 500, we hear from hundreds of thousands of clients every year, rating firms on key metrics such as lawyer quality and availability, billing, and levels of communication and expertise.

The answers we receive allow us to evaluate firms using a set of client service data scores, covering Lawyers and Team Quality, Value: Billing and Efficiency, and Sector and Industry Knowledge – all of which combine to produce an overall Client Service Score.

This article focuses on Lawyers and Team Quality, for which Hogan Lovells scores 81.20. (The rest of this article is available to logged-in users only. If you are unable to log in above right, please click ‘Forgot your password?’ below to gain access to the full article). Continue reading “Hogan Lovells: The Client’s View”

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Ashurst: The Client’s View

Ashurst

Lawyers and
Team Quality

79.59

Quality of partners 83.47

Quality of associates 75.76

Partner availability and engagement 83.18

All scores are global and /100.

What do clients really think about the service they receive from law firms? At Legal 500, we hear from hundreds of thousands of clients every year, rating firms on key metrics such as lawyer quality and availability, billing, and levels of communication and expertise.

The answers we receive allow us to evaluate firms using a set of client service data scores, covering Lawyers and Team Quality, Value: Billing and Efficiency, and Sector and Industry Knowledge – all of which combine to produce an overall Client Service Score.

This article focuses on Lawyers and Team Quality, for which Ashurst scores 79.59. (The rest of this article is available to logged-in users only. If you are unable to log in above right, please click ‘Forgot your password?’ below to gain access to the full article). Continue reading “Ashurst: The Client’s View”

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Herbert Smith Freehills: The Client’s View

Herbert Smith Freehills

Lawyers and
Team Quality

82.30

Quality of partners 85.21

Quality of associates 78.16

Partner availability and engagement 83.46

All scores are global and /100.

What do clients really think about the service they receive from law firms? At Legal 500, we hear from hundreds of thousands of clients every year, rating firms on key metrics such as lawyer quality and availability, billing, and levels of communication and expertise.

The answers we receive allow us to evaluate firms using a set of client service data scores, covering Lawyers and Team Quality, Value: Billing and Efficiency, and Sector and Industry Knowledge – all of which combine to produce an overall Client Service Score.

This article focuses on Lawyers and Team Quality, for which Herbert Smith Freehills scores 82.30. (The rest of this article is available to logged-in users only. If you are unable to log in above right, please click ‘Forgot your password?’ below to gain access to the full article). Continue reading “Herbert Smith Freehills: The Client’s View”

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Glasses half full

Geoff Moore, managing partner of Ireland’s Arthur Cox, is looking at life with his glass very much half full, and he is not alone. ‘Notwithstanding the awfulness going on around the world – two full-blown wars, geopolitical tensions, election uncertainty, and more – the underlying domestic economy in Ireland is actually performing very strongly,’ says Moore. ‘Things have remained robust.’

Continue reading “Glasses half full”

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Vodafone UK head of legal Karen Thorpe on winning LB’s In-House Team of the Year and Vodafone’s ‘once in a lifetime’ merger with Three

With work including the proposed merger of Vodafone and Three’s UK businesses – a deal that would create the largest mobile operator in the UK; the successful defence of the £1bn Phones 4u litigation – the culmination of a decade’s worth of work for Vodafone’s legal team; and the launch of a major in-house transformation project, it’s fair to say that Vodafone’s lawyers have been keeping themselves busy.

 Legal Business caught up with Vodafone UK’s head of legal, Karen Thorpe (pictured, sixth from left), to discuss an award-winning year.  

Continue reading “Vodafone UK head of legal Karen Thorpe on winning LB’s In-House Team of the Year and Vodafone’s ‘once in a lifetime’ merger with Three”

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‘A true win’ – Baker McKenzie on record Ecuador $1.6bn debt-for-nature swap and winning Finance Team of the Year

Baker McKenzie won Finance Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards for representing project manager Oceans Finance Company in structuring and implementing the government of Ecuador’s $1.6bn debt-for-nature swap and providing $300m for the Galápagos Islands – the largest marine conservation debt conversion to date.

LB spoke with partners Matthew Cox and James Tanner (pictured, middle) to learn more about their experience working on this landmark deal, the challenges they encountered, and what it meant to win Finance Team of the Year.

Continue reading “‘A true win’ – Baker McKenzie on record Ecuador $1.6bn debt-for-nature swap and winning Finance Team of the Year”

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‘Deals like this act as a catalyst’ – Gowling WLG on its Legal Business Award-winning work for AstraZeneca

coronavirus cells under the microscope

Gowling WLG won this year’s LB Award for Life Sciences Team of the Year for its role in advising AstraZeneca on a collaboration and license agreement with biopharmaceutical company Quell Therapeutics worth more than £2bn. LB spoke with two of the partners who worked on the deal to discuss why it’s important and what it means for the team. 

Continue reading “‘Deals like this act as a catalyst’ – Gowling WLG on its Legal Business Award-winning work for AstraZeneca”

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‘What sort of profession do we want to have?’ – young Black lawyers on diversity, inclusion, and what needs to be done

‘There’s lawyers all over the world. The question isn’t whether or not Black people can be lawyers. The question is, what is it about England and Wales that means that Black lawyers don’t get the same opportunities as their white counterparts? And there’s no way to explain that other than racism.’

This comment from one City associate frankly states the issue. ‘When we talk about DEI’, they continue, ‘it’s often a very polite, corporate way of saying “Don’t be racist.”’ Law firms are, perhaps understandably, reluctant to use words like racism in their communications. But failure to acknowledge the problem makes it all the harder to resolve.

Continue reading “‘What sort of profession do we want to have?’ – young Black lawyers on diversity, inclusion, and what needs to be done”

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‘Leave no stone unturned’: LB speaks to Barrister of the Year Edward Henry KC

Mountford Chambers’ Edward Henry KC won the title of Barrister of the Year at the Legal Business Awards this past September. LB‘s disputes correspondent Isabel Caine spoke with him to hear about his process, the art of cross examining, and his work on the two major cases that won him his trophy.

Continue reading “‘Leave no stone unturned’: LB speaks to Barrister of the Year Edward Henry KC”

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Gowling WLG: The Client’s View

Gowling WLG

Lawyers and
Team Quality

80.33

Quality of partners 83.52

Quality of associates 73.42

Partner availability and engagement 84.12

All scores are global and /100.

What do clients really think about the service they receive from law firms? At Legal 500, we hear from hundreds of thousands of clients every year, rating firms on key metrics such as lawyer quality and availability, billing, and levels of communication and expertise.

The answers we receive allow us to evaluate firms using a set of client service data scores, covering Lawyers and Team Quality, Value: Billing and Efficiency, and Sector and Industry Knowledge – all of which combine to produce an overall Client Service Score.

This article focuses on Lawyers and Team Quality, for which Gowling WLG scores 80.33. (The rest of this article is available to logged-in users only. If you are unable to log in above right, please click ‘Forgot your password?’ below to gain access to the full article). Continue reading “Gowling WLG: The Client’s View”