Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Linklaters and London 2012’s Terry Miller were among the key prize-winners at last night’s Legal Business Awards.
Cleary Gottlieb was named Law Firm of the Year from a shortlist including Baker & McKenzie, Bristows, Clifford Chance, Clyde & Co, RPC and Travers Smith. The Wall Street leader was singled out for a truly outstanding year, combining cutting-edge mandates such as Greece’s sovereign bond restructuring and advising Rosneft on its $55bn acquisition of TNK-BP, while posting the highest five-year growth rate of any elite global law firm.
In one of the most popular awards of the night LOCOG general counsel Terry Miller won the title of Lawyer of the Year for her work on London’s internationally-lauded 2012 Olympics.
Telefónica UK, meanwhile, was named In-House Team of the Year. Reinforcing a notable night for corporate counsel, the awards also saw the launch of Legal Business’s GC Powerlist, an annual appraisal of the most influential UK and international lawyers at the in-house Bar.
The awards, now in its 16th year, was held at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel with nearly a 1,000 guests in attendance.
Other flagship awards saw Bill Drummond pick up the Management Partner of the Year Award, after being elected for a sixth term as head of Brodies, while TLT was named National/Regional Firm of the year following bold strategic moves into Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Ropes & Gray was named US Firm of the Year after establishing itself a major finance and private equity force in the City. South Africa’s ENS (Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs) was crowned International Firm of the Year for setting out its stall to become the first pan-African law firm.
Among the practice awards, Skadden Arps Meagher & Flom secured Dispute Resolution Team of the Year for the second year running, while Linklaters was named Corporate Team of the Year and Clifford Chance won Finance Team of the Year.
Mills & Reeve won the award for Real Estate Team of the Year, while Herbert Smith Freehills took home Competition Team of the Year.
Other winners included Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which won the award for CSR Programme of the Year, CMS, which won Energy & Natural Resources Team of the Year and O’Melveny & Myers, which picked up Private Equity Team of the Year.
For a full list of winners and shortlisted firms, click here.
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