Shoosmiths, Travers Smith and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners were among the major winners at the 2022 Legal Business Awards, which welcomed more than 800 guests to the Grosvenor House hotel last night (27 September).
Hosted by distinguished BBC presenter, news anchor and journalist Louise Minchin, the evening saw Shoosmiths crowned Law Firm of the Year, with judges particularly impressed by its stellar performance over the past couple of years, with a strong financial performance underpinned by key client wins.
Travers – for the second year in a row – picked up two awards, and this time in the prestigious Commercial Litigation and Private Equity categories. Elsewhere, Ashurst won Corporate Team of the Year for its role managing the bidding process for Morrisons that eventually saw the supermarket taken over by CD&R, while Kirkland & Ellis won the Restructuring Team of the Year award for the second year in a row after advising NMC Healthcare, via its joint administrators, on its successful $7.6bn financial restructuring.
In the in-house categories, it was a strong performance from publisher HarperCollins, which was Highly Commended in both the In-House Team of the Year (won by Coca-Cola Europacific Partners) and GC of the Year (won by Sharon Blackman of Citi) categories. There were also wins for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance – which won Most Transformative In-House Team of the Year – and Ndidi Ezenwa of Juven, who picked up the award for Rising Star In-House Counsel of the Year.
Elsewhere, Cooley, DLA Piper and Pinsent Masons also enjoyed successful evenings – each picking up an award and a Highly Commended mention. DLA won our inaugural ESG Programme of the Year, while its recent work with client Pfizer saw it come runner-up in the TMT Team of the Year category; Cooley won the competitive US Firm of the Year award and was Highly Commended in Commercial Litigation; while Pinsents won the TMT category and came runner-up in the Restructuring category.
A special thanks goes to our external judging panel of prominent general counsel who selected the winners. They are: 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.
A full list of the winners can be seen below, and a forthcoming edition will include a full report of the night. For more detail on the awards in general, please click here.
mark.mcateer@legalbusiness.co.uk
Legal Business Awards 2022 – The Winners
Pinsent Masons – TMT Team of the Year
Paul Hastings – Finance Team of the Year
Vinson & Elkins – International Arbitration Team of the Year
Kirkland & Ellis – Restructuring Team of the Year
Fieldfisher – Competition Team of the Year
Travers Smith – Commercial Litigation Team of the Year
Womble Bond Dickinson – Private Client Team of the Year
Eversheds Sutherland – Insurance Team of the Year
Ashurst – Corporate Team of the Year
Travers Smith – Private Equity Team of the Year
Herbert Smith Freehills – Real Estate Team of the Year
Tenet Compliance & Litigation – Boutique Law Firm of the Year
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance – Most Transformative In-House Team of the Year
Simon Maynard, King & Spalding – Lawyer of the Year
DLA Piper – CSR Programme of the Year
ADVANT – International Firm of the Year
Ndidi Ezenwa, Juven – Rising Star In-House Counsel of the Year
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners – In-House Team of the Year
Ray Berg, Osborne Clarke – Management Partner of the Year
Cooley – US Law Firm of the Year
Sharon Blackman, Citi – GC of the Year
Essex Court Chambers – Chambers of the Year
Squire Patton Boggs – Legal Technology Team of the Year
Clarion – Regional/Offshore Firm of the Year
Shoosmiths – Law Firm of the Year
