Allen & Overy, Latham & Watkins and Reed 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 will take place at Grosvenor House Hotel on 27 September, are Bird & Bird, gunnercooke, RPC and Shoosmiths.
The full shortlists, revealed below, will see high-calibre law firms, in-house teams and individuals competing across 25 categories at the 25th Legal Business Awards.
The finalists for the coveted In-House Team of the Year award are AstraZeneca, British American Tobacco, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, HarperCollins, John Lewis and Tesco.
City giants Ashurst, Clifford Chance and Norton Rose Fulbright are among the firms fighting it out to be named Corporate Team of the Year, while in the Commercial Litigation category, Cleary Gottlieb, Kirkland & Ellis and Travers Smith are among those in contention. In Private Equity, one of the most in-demand strategic practice areas in the Square Mile, the shortlist includes Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Paul Hastings and Ropes & Gray.
Meanwhile, our rebranded ESG Programme of the Year award sees a host of Global 100 firms up against each other, including DLA Piper, Eversheds Sutherland and Herbert Smith Freehills.
And, with US law firms continuing to dominate high-end work in the City, Cooley, Goodwin and Simpson Thacher are among those shortlisted for US Law Firm of the Year in what will be one of the most competitive categories of the night.
The winners, which will be unveiled at the gala ceremony hosted by journalist and broadcaster Louise Minchin, are decided by an independent judging panel of senior in-house counsel.
This year’s panel comprises: Kate Cheetham, GC at Lloyds Banking Group; Ruwan De Soyza, group GC and company secretary at Xplor; Chris Fowler, former GC Technology at BT; Alessandro Galtieri, deputy GC at Colt; Rupert Hopley, company secretary and group GC at Informa; Angus McBride, EVP and GC at News UK; Neil Murrin, GC at Smart Pension; Nigel Paterson, GC at Dixons Carphone; Nayeem Syed, senior legal director technology procurement at London Stock Exchange Group; and Samantha Thompson, head of legal global M&A, Anglo American.
Major winners last year included Pinsent Masons, which was named Law Firm of the Year and Travers Smith, which won two awards. Meanwhile, easyJet stood out in the in-house categories.