Osborne Clarke (OC), Mishcon de Reya and Clifford Chance (CC) were among the major winners at the 2015 Legal Business Awards, with DLA Piper global co-chair Sir Nigel Knowles handed a special one-off award for industry-defining achievement marking the 25th anniversary of Legal Business.
OC took the coveted Law Firm of the Year award thanks to a period of dramatic growth and assured strategic expansion, while Mishcon managing partner Kevin Gold was named Management Partner of the Year for his central role in supporting the emergence of Mishcon as one of the most distinctive and imaginative players in the UK market.
Knowles was cited for outstanding individual achievement for his central role in taking DLA Piper from its roots in the English regions to become one of the world’s largest law firms in a special award honouring the figure judged to have most defined the UK profession since Legal Business launched in 1990.
CC was a major winner in the practice awards, named as Finance Team of the Year for its work on the UK Treasury’s ground-breaking RMB3bn bond issue and also Restructuring Team of the Year for advising on the innovative workout of APCOA Group. Macfarlanes, meanwhile, secured the coveted Corporate Team of the Year award for its role on Verizon’s $130bn acquisition of Vodafone’s stake in Verizon Wireless.
Other major awards saw Vodafone general counsel Rosemary Martin named Lawyer of the Year, while the Royal Mail was named In-House Team of the Year. Ropes & Gray was the US Law Firm of the Year, with Brodies named as National/Regional Firm of the Year.
The awards were presented to more than 1,000 guests in a gala ceremony last night (24 March) hosted by distinguished broadcaster and journalist Jeremy Paxman. The event was preceded by a reception to mark the launch of this year’s GC Power List report.
This year saw the introduction of an external judging panel of distinguished industry figures. The panel comprised the following senior general counsel: Michael Shaw (Barclays); Andrew Whittaker (Lloyds Banking Group); Robert Ivens (Marks & Spencer); Adrian de Souza (Land Securities); Siobhan Moriarty (Diageo); Michael Herlihy (Smiths Group); Kirsty Cooper (Aviva); Claire Chapman (Daily Mail and General Trust) and Alison Kay (National Grid). The panel was completed by Jomati founder Tony Williams and Paul Gilbert of LBC Wise Counsel, as well as Alex Novarese and Mark McAteer from Legal Business.
Our April edition will include a full report on the night.
For more details click here. See #LBAwards2015 on twitter.
Legal Business Awards 2015 – The Winners
Simmons & Simmons – TMT Team of the Year
Clifford Chance – Restructuring Team of the Year
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton – Competition Team of the Year
Hogan Lovells – Energy and Infrastructure Team of the Year
Weil, Gotshal & Manges – Dispute Resolution Team of the Year
Clifford Chance – Finance Team of the Year
Mills & Reeve – Private Client Team of the Year
DAC Beachcroft – Insurance Team of the Year
Macfarlanes – Corporate Team of the Year
Travers Smith – Private Equity Team of the Year
Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co – Real Estate Team of the Year
Wiggin – Boutique of the Year
Rosemary Martin, Vodafone – Lawyer of the Year
Reed Smith – CSR Programme of the Year
Garrigues – International Firm of the Year
Kumar Tewari, Lloyds Banking Group – Rising Star In-House Counsel of the Year
Royal Mail – In-House Team of the Year
Kevin Gold, Mishcon de Reya – Management Partner of the Year
Ropes & Gray – US Law Firm of the Year
DWF – Legal Innovator of the Year
Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co – Legal Technology Team of the Year
Brodies – National/Regional Firm of the Year
Sir Nigel Knowles – Outstanding Individual Achievement Award: 25 Years
Osborne Clarke – Law Firm of the Year
alex.novarese@legalease.co.uk
