Baker Botts walked away from this year’s Legal Business Awards with the trophy for energy/infrastructure team of the year, in recognition of the firm’s work advising Air Products and Chemicals on Saudi Arabia’s landmark NEOM Green Hydrogen Project. LB spoke with two of the lead partners on the deal to discuss getting it over the line, the importance of sector expertise, and what it means for the future of green hydrogen.
Freeths, Freshfields and Vodafone were among the big winners at this year’s Legal Business Awards, which were revealed to a packed house at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.
Mishcon de Reya‘s hard-fought victory for Nigeria in Nigeria v P&ID saw the firm take home Commercial Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards in September. The team assisted Nigeria in challenging a $6.6bn arbitral award made in favour of BVI-incorporated shell company Process & Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID) in 2017. With interest accruing at $1m a day, the team sought to overturn the award on the basis of fraud.
But, when the firm was instructed in 2019, Nigeria was almost three years past the deadline to bring the set-aside challenge. Before the team could even begin to present its fraud case (the result of a massive global investigation effort), it had to fight to extend the deadline – and achieved an unprecedented extension, granted in July 2020.
The team’s hard work paid off. On 23 October 2023, judgment was handed down in Nigeria’s favour by Mr Justice Knowles. It was found that P&ID had obtained the award, now worth over $11bn, by fraud.
Shaistah Akhtar, partner in Mishcons’ dispute resolution group, spoke to LB about getting the call from Nigeria, the biggest hurdles the team overcame, and the pressures of a case with national and international repercussions.
Baker McKenzie won Finance Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards for representing project manager Oceans Finance Company in structuring and implementing the government of Ecuador’s $1.6bn debt-for-nature swap and providing $300m for the Galápagos Islands – the largest marine conservation debt conversion to date.
LB spoke with partners Matthew Cox and James Tanner (pictured, middle) to learn more about their experience working on this landmark deal, the challenges they encountered, and what it meant to win Finance Team of the Year.
Gowling WLG won this year’s LB Award for Life Sciences Team of the Year for its role in advising AstraZeneca on a collaboration and license agreement with biopharmaceutical company Quell Therapeutics worth more than £2bn. LB spoke with two of the partners who worked on the deal to discuss why it’s important and what it means for the team.
With work including the proposed merger of Vodafone and Three’s UK businesses – a deal that would create the largest mobile operator in the UK; the successful defence of the £1bn Phones 4u litigation – the culmination of a decade’s worth of work for Vodafone’s legal team; and the launch of a major in-house transformation project, it’s fair to say that Vodafone’s lawyers have been keeping themselves busy.
Legal Business caught up with Vodafone UK’s head of legal, Karen Thorpe (pictured, sixth from left), to discuss an award-winning year.
Mountford Chambers’ Edward Henry KC won the title of Barrister of the Year at the Legal Business Awards this past September. LB‘s disputes correspondent Isabel Caine spoke with him to hear about his process, the art of cross examining, and his work on the two major cases that won him his trophy.
Adam Ibrahim, UK co-head of litigation and arbitration at DLA Piper, was last month named Private Practice Lawyer of the Year at the Legal Business Awards, following a standout year in which he led a large DLA team to victory in a complex mass claimant action over break fees on loans to small businesses, dubbed “the biggest banking case out there” by top-tier silk Bankim Thanki KC.
This March, Mr Justice Zacaroli handed down a 185-page judgment in the case, Farol v Clydesdale Bank and National Australia Bank, comprehensively dismissing all claims against both banks, as well as allegations of deceit against 15 current and former employees of the banks, including four senior executives.
Here, Adam talks to LB’s Anna Huntley about what it was like to be involved in such a huge and long-running case, the rise of class actions, his approach to leadership and management, and what it was like to win the Lawyer of the Year award.
Freeths, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Vodafone were among the big winners at this year’s Legal Business Awards, which were revealed last night to a packed house at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.
Twenty-seven prizes were handed out on the night, with the event hosted by BBC journalist, broadcaster and Mastermind host Clive Myrie and introduced by global head of research and reporting Georgina Stanley (pictured right).
Freeths took the award for law firm of the year, narrowly pipping Freshfields, which was highly commended in the headline category. The national firm took the honour on the back of another consecutive year of double-digit growth, during which it also became one of the first law firms to achieve B Corp certification.
It also enjoyed an unprecedented year in the spotlight for its role in the Post Office inquiry, which was captured in the hugely successful Mr Bates vs The Post Office TV drama.
Freshfields went home with two of the top practice area awards, including corporate team of the year for successfully steering UBS through its historic acquisition of Credit Suisse, and competition team of the year for its work for Facebook parent company Meta on the Competition and Markets Authority’s investigation into its collection and use of advertising data.
The top two individual awards, Lawyer of the Year and Management Partner of the Year, went to DLA Piper’s Adam Ibrahim – described by one client as “the Magnus Carlsen of the banking litigation world – always three steps ahead of his opponent” – and former Allen & Overy senior partner Wim Dejonghe, for sealing the long-awaited, transformational transatlantic merger with Shearman & Sterling.
The award for US law firm of the year went to Paul Weiss, which has has made a huge splash in the London legal market over the last year, building a top tier English law practice at lightning speed through a series of eye-catching hires from leading UK and US firms.
The awards, which were decided on by a judging panel of senior business figures – including Lloyds Banking Group chief legal officer Kate Cheetham, Rio Tinto COO Chris Fowler, Financial Times GC Dan Guildford and News UK GC Angus McBride – also recognised the very best of the Bar and in-house.
Vodafone was named In-house Team of the Year after an eventful year which included the proposed merger of Vodafone and Three’s UK businesses, the defence of the Phones4u litigation and a major in-house transformation project, while the company also shared the Legal Technology Team of the Year with TLT for their work on an interactive digital dawn raid simulator.
Awards host Clive Myrie
Everton Football Club chief legal counsel Katie Charles was named GC of the Year, while on the Bar side, Edward Henry KC of Mountford Chambers took the Barrister of Year award, with 3VB named Chambers of the Year.
The charity partner for the event was Hand in Hand International, which supports the 400 million women and girls around the world living below the poverty line by providing skills, education, training and resources to start their own businesses and generate jobs. Click here for more information on the charity’s work.
Full list of winners
Energy/Infrastructure Team of the Year – Baker Botts
Highly commended – Bracewell
Life Sciences Team of the Year – Gowling WLG
Highly commended – Pinsent Masons
Private Practice Lawyer of the Year – Adam Ibrahim, DLA Piper
Highly commended – Jenine Hulsmann, Weil
Barrister of the Year – Edward Henry KC, Mountford Chambers
Highly commended – Tahina Akther, Wildcat Law
Marketing Initiative of the Year – RPC
Highly commended – A&O Shearman
Boutique Law Firm of the Year – Milberg London
Highly commended – Powell Gilbert
Boutique Law Firm of the Year (outside London) – Hawkswell Kilvington
Highly commended – Han Law
Chambers of the Year – 3VB
Highly commended – Twenty Essex
Commercial Litigation Team of the Year – Mishcon de Reya
Highly commended – Willkie Farr & Gallagher
Competition Team of the Year – Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Highly commended – Morgan Lewis
Corporate Team of the Year – Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Highly commended – Latham & Watkins and Dorsey & Whitney
ESG Programme of the Year – Green Tech Legal Collaborative
Highly commended – Bates Wells
Finance Team of the Year – Baker McKenzie
Highly commended – DLA Piper
GC of the Year – Katie Charles, Everton Football Club
Highly commended – Keith Austin, DHL
In-House Team of the Year – Vodafone
Highly commended – BAE Systems
International Arbitration Team of the Year – Skadden
Highly commended – Vinson & Elkins
Law Firm of the Year – Freeths
Highly commended – Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Legal Technology Team of the Year – TLT and Vodafone
Highly commended – Dentons
Management Partner of the Year – Wim Dejonghe, Allen & Overy
Highly commended – Jason Glover, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
Most Transformative In-House Team of the Year – DHL
Highly commended – Jones Lang LaSalle
Private Client Team of the Year – Hughes Fowler Carruthers
Highly commended – Stevens & Bolton
Private Equity Team of the Year – Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
Highly commended – Kirkland & Ellis
Real Estate Team of the Year – Eversheds Sutherland
Highly commended – Ashurst
Regional/Offshore Firm of the Year – Michelmores
Highly commended – Brodies
Restructuring Team of the Year – Kirkland & Ellis
Highly commended – Latham & Watkins
Rising Star In-House Counsel of the Year – Amman Ayub, Advanz Pharma
Highly commended – Benedikt Meyer, American Express
US Law Firm of the Year – Paul Weiss
Highly commended – Willkie Farr & Gallagher
