Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Mishcon de Reya and White & Case 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 on 23 March, are Clyde & Co, Osborne Clarke and Stewarts Law.
The full shortlists, revealed below, will see high-calibre law firms, in-house teams and individuals competing across 24 categories, including 12 practice area awards at the 20th year of the Legal Business Awards.
The finalists for the coveted In-House Team of the Year award are Anheuser-Busch InBev, Barclays, Crown Estate, Sellafield, Shell and Virgin Media.
City giants Linklaters, Clifford Chance and Travers Smith are among the firms fighting it out to be named Corporate Team of the Year. In the Dispute Resolution category, Boies, Schiller & Flexner, Stewarts Law and Mayer Brown are among those in contention. In private equity, one of the most in-demand strategic practices areas in the Square Mile in recent years, the shortlist includes Freshfields, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Baker McKenzie.
With American law firms securing an increasing share of high-end work in the City, Latham & Watkins, Goodwin Procter, and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan are among the shortlist 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 with a 1,000 guests hosted by journalist and broadcaster Alastair Stewart, are decided by an independent judging panel of senior general counsel.
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; Kate Cheetham, general counsel at Lloyds Banking Group; Kirsty Cooper, group GC and company secretary at Aviva; Claire Debney, director of legal strategy at Shire; Chris Fowler, GC UK Commercial for BT; FT GC Dan Guildford; Geoffrey Timms, GC and company secretary at Legal & General Group; Zoopla Property Group GC Ned Staple; Nigel Paterson, general counsel at Dixons Carphone; Nyeem Syed, assistant GC, financial & risk at Thomson Reuters; and Tony Williams of Jomati.
Major winners last year, included Pinsent Masons, which was named Law Firm of the Year and Herbert Smith Freehills, which won the Dispute Resolution Team of the Year award, while Skyscanner walked away with the in-house prize.
mark.mcateer@legalease.co.uk
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Legal Business Awards 2017: The full shortlist
TMT Team of the Year
Bristows
Cooley
DLA Piper
Powell Gilbert
Reed Smith
Simmons & Simmons
Finance Team of the Year
CMS Cameron McKenna
Herbert Smith Freehills
Linklaters
Paul Hastings
Ropes & Gray
Simmons & Simmons
International Arbitration Team of the Year
Baker McKenzie
Boies, Schiller & Flexner
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Three Crowns
Weil, Gotshal & Manges
Restructuring Team of the Year
Allen & Overy
Ashurst
Bond Dickinson
Clifford Chance
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
Paul Hastings
White & Case
Competition Team of the Year
Allen & Overy
Ashurst
Bristows
Herbert Smith Freehills
Mishcon de Reya
Travers Smith
Energy and Infrastructure Team of the Year
Burges Salmon
CMS Cameron McKenna
DLA Piper
Pinsent Masons
Shearman & Sterling
Sullivan & Cromwell
Commercial Litigation Team of the Year
Boies, Schiller & Flexner
Charles Russell Speechlys
Clyde & Co
Mayer Brown
Stewarts Law
Weil, Gotshal & Manges
Private Client Team of the Year
Charles Russell Speechlys
Harbottle & Lewis
Irwin Mitchell
McDermott Will & Emery
Stephenson Harwood
Withers
Insurance Team of the Year
Bond Dickinson
DAC Beachcroft
DLA Piper
Eversheds
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
TLT
Corporate Team of the Year
Clifford Chance
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Linklaters
Shearman & Sterling
Slaughter and May
Travers Smith
Weil, Gotshal & Manges
Private Equity Team of the Year
Baker McKenzie
Clifford Chance
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
Hogan Lovells
Norton Rose Fulbright
Real Estate Team of the Year
Berwin Leighton Paisner
Gowling WLG
Hogan Lovells
Macfarlanes
Norton Rose Fulbright
Reed Smith
White & Case
Boutique Law Firm of the Year
Candey
Humphries Kerstetter
Powell Gilbert
Sacker & Partners
Signature Litigation
Three Crowns
Lawyer of the Year
Maurice Allen, DLA Piper
Peter Crossley, Squire Patton Boggs
Jo Hickman, Public Law Project
Sue Millar, Stephenson Harwood
Frances Murphy, Slaughter and May
Mark Rawlinson, Morgan Stanley
Joanne Wheeler, Bird & Bird
CSR Programme of the Year
Bond Dickinson
CMS Cameron McKenna
Dechert
Dentons
Gowling WLG
Hogan Lovells
International Firm of the Year
Garrigues
Gómez-Acebo & Pombo
Magnusson
Mason Hayes & Curran
Noerr
Vieira de Almeida
Wolf Theiss
Rising Star In-House Counsel of the Year
Edward Anderson, Sainsbury’s
Julia Boyle, Telefónica
Jonathan Cope, RSA Group
Ahsan Gulabkhan, Virgin Atlantic Airways
Craig Harris, British American Tobacco
Sarah Rosser, Vodafone
In-House Team of the Year
Anheuser-Busch InBev
Barclays
Crown Estate
Sellafield
Shell
Virgin Media
Management Partner of the Year
Tim Eyles, Taylor Wessing
Richard Foley, Pinsent Masons
John Joyce, Addleshaw Goddard
Charles Martin, Macfarlanes
Mark Rigotti and Sonya Leydecker, Herbert Smith Freehills
John Westwell, Foot Anstey
US Law Firm of the Year
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
Goodwin Procter
Latham & Watkins
Paul Hastings
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
Sidley Austin
Sullivan & Cromwell
Legal Innovator of the Year
Allen & Overy
Axiom
Dentons
Lawyers On Demand
Pinsent Masons
RPC
Vodafone
Legal Technology Team of the Year
Addleshaw Goddard
Linklaters
Mishcon de Reya
Riverview Law
Simmons & Simmons
Taylor Wessing
National/Regional Firm of the Year
Brodies
DMH Stallard
Freeths
Harper Macleod
Mills & Reeve
TLT
Law Firm of the Year
Clyde & Co
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Mishcon de Reya
Osborne Clarke
Stewarts Law
White & Case
