dara-obriain-webNearly 1,000 guests gathered at Old Billingsgate Market to celebrate outstanding achievement within the business law community at this year's British Legal Awards.

Headline award winners on the night included Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which was named Law Firm of the Year; BT Sport, which won Legal Department of the Year; and Devereux Chambers, which won Chambers of the Year.

City of London Law Society chairman Alasdair Douglas, who chaired the judging panel, said: "The submissions across all categories showed expertise of the highest order and the contribution to the economic success of clients in a number of cases was game changing."

The evening culminated with a speech by the leading competition lawyer Dorothy Livingston, recipient of the City of London Law Society Lifetime Achievement Award.

The event was hosted by comedian and TV presenter Dara O'Briain (pictured), and the charity for the night was CHICKS, which provides respite breaks for disadvantaged children. It raised £13,000 on the night through donations and a silent auction.

Click on the links below for more details on each of the awards categories.

THE WINNERS:

  • The Diversity Initiative of the Year award was won by Field Fisher Waterhouse, but the firm was not present on the night to collect it. The other finalists were Bird & Bird, Eversheds, Morrison & Foerster, Norton Rose Fulbright and Olswang. 

———————————————————————————————————————————————— 

Editor's Award: Law Firm Leader of the Year

charles-martin-macfarlanes-law-firm-leader-of-the-year-webWINNER Charles Martin, Macfarlanes (pictured)

With three terms as Macfarlanes' senior partner under his belt, Charles Martin has successfully led the top City firm through a tough period in recent years.

As a leading independent, Macfarlanes was very much a bellwether firm, performing strongly in pre-recessionary years. However, under the leadership of Martin and managing partner Julian Howard, the firm has been reshaped successfully and has also had a successful downturn. 

This year it posted its second set of strong financials in a row, with revenue up 11.6% to £114.2m and profits per equity partner jumping almost 10% to £989k – just shy of the £1m mark it reached in the boom years.

The firm has also gone through a period of growth, making a striking number of lateral hires, including two this November – Baker & McKenzie energy and projects partner Scott Brodsky and Ashurst property partner Anthony Burnett-Scott. They follow in the footsteps of property partner Clare Breeze, who joined from Shearman & Sterling in July, and construction partner Ann Minogue, also from Ashurst, who joined from Linklaters in August.

Martin was recently re-elected for a third term as senior partner, having initially taken up the role in 2008, when he took over from Robert Sutton. Having stood unopposed for re-election, he will start his third term next May. He joined the firm in 1983, becoming a partner in 1990.

Despite his management role, he has maintained some client work including most recently advising Verizon Communications on its $130bn ($796m) acquisition of Vodafone's stake in Verizon Wireless. 

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Law Firm of the Year (sponsored by Oktra)

mark-rawlinson-freshfields-law-firm-of-the-year-webWINNER Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Finalists Ashurst • Bird & Bird • DWF • Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan • RPC

The judging panel devoted a significant amount of time to debating the merits of each submission in the Law Firm of the Year category. It was keen to stress that the quality of all the entries was extremely high, making their decision a difficult one. 

But there can only be one winner and the panel agreed that Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer should be the recipient of this headline award off the back of a submission that one judge described as "stellar". Another singled out the firm for its "impressive contribution to pro bono, fantastic client base and superb lawyers".  

The judges concurred that this magic circle firm had a standout year, off the back of its sponsorship of the Olympic and Paralympic Games last summer. 

Standout deals include advising the Greek Government on a €50bn (£41bn) capital raising programme to meet its bail-out needs, advising Xstrata on its $70bn (£43bn) merger with Glencore and leading on the €4.3bn (£3.6bn) debt restructuring of Germany's largest real estate group, Deutsche Annington. 

Freshfields' strategy of building relationships in jurisdictions where it does not have a presence has helped it extend its reach well beyond its network of 28 bases. The firm says it advised on half the in-depth investigations by the European Commission and more high-value arbitration cases than any other firm, involving combined claims of nearly £50bn. 

For the 2012-13 financial year, the firm posted the most impressive results among the magic circle with revenue increasing by 7.2% to £1.22bn against an increase in profits per equity partner of 7.6% to £1.398m. 

The firm's highly impressive range of CSR-related work includes acting for the Children's Commissioner in a successful test case involving victims of human trafficking. 

Pictured: Mark Rawlinson, Freshfields managing partner

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

General Counsel of the Year 

andrew-garard-itv-general-counsel-of-the-year-webWINNER Andrew Garard, ITV (pictured)

Finalists Catherine Clarke, Business Growth Fund • David Haigh, GFH Capital • Ben Keisler, Anglo American • David Rushford, Haymarket Financial • Chris Vaughan, Balfour Beatty

ITV's high-profile general counsel Andrew Garard is playing a key role in the implementation of broadcaster's five-year transformation plan, which has so far yielded impressive results.

The judges singled out Garard for his outstanding pro bono and diversity work. In the past year, that has included partnering with Hogan Lovells to deliver a monthly legal clinic at HIV charity Body & Soul; working with Manchester Metropolitan University and Slaughter and May to help increase diversity in the legal profession; and providing pro bono services with DLA Piper on ITV's annual Text Santa campaign.

Alongside his legal team, Garard has spearheaded a number of initiatives. After pushing panel firms to abandon hourly rates in favour of greater cost certainty, the legal team saw year-on-year cost savings in excess of 10% in 2013. This was achieved without any redundancies.

The judges were also impressed by Garard's development of partnerships and training links with panel firms, as well as the legal team's participation in the company's internal secondment programme.

Garard has also steered ITV through the legal issues resulting from the redesign of the broadcaster's networking arrangements; a series of acquisitions in the UK, Europe and the US; and oversight of the company's production of the award-winning programme Exposure – The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, for which Garard insisted producers use the same standard of journalistic integrity and defamation threshold as if Savile were still alive. 

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Legal Department of the Year 

bt-sport-legal-department-of-the-year-webWINNER BT Sport

Finalists Barclays Legal • Bupa • Dell • JTI • Lloyds Banking Group • National Car Parks • XL Group

'BT has declared war on BSkyB' ran the headlines. In the run-up to the launch of BT Sport, its legal team oversaw more than £1bn worth of deals in less than a year, keeping 93% of the work in-house and winning effusive praise from BT Group CEO Gavin Patterson.

The scale of the assignment undertaken by BT TV's legal team is all the more impressive given that the group started with just four lawyers at the outset of launch. After BT was awarded the rights to 38 live Barclays Premier League games in June 2012, the team oversaw a staggering 293 new legal projects in 289 working days.

These included the clearance of more than 100 adverts, signing contracts with 40 presenters and 23 sports ambassadors, the acquisition of 43 live sports and the development of two BT Sport apps.

The legal team also worked with BT's creative and commercial teams on the design and launch of two BT Sport channels, the design and construction of the largest purpose-built TV studio in Europe and the agreements for the largest production contract in British TV.

"BT TV Legal was instrumental in getting BT Sport launched so successfully," said Patterson. "It took a monumental effort from the team in a short period to get the channels to launch and their stellar contribution has been widely recognised across BT's business as well as externally by our partners and suppliers." 

Pictured: the BT Sport legal team

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Regional Firm of the Year (sponsored by Towry) 

christine-oneill-brodies-regional-law-firm-of-the-year-webWINNER Brodies

Finalists Brethertons • Keoghs • Shakespeares • Shoosmiths • Stephens Scown • Weightmans

Unlike many of its rivals, Brodies has maintained its focus on the Scottish market, resisting the temptation to expand into London. Impressive financial results over a sustained period support its case. "This firm has a real sense of being an important feature in Scotland's business environment," said the judges.

Brodies has seen one of the largest increases in both turnover and profits per equity partner among its peer group, increasing turnover by 7.5% to £46m and operating profit by 9.3% to £19.3m for the 2012-13 financial year. Since the full impact of the financial downturn was felt in 2009-10, the firm has achieved growth of 28.6%. 

Brodies puts its strong performance down to focusing on the Scottish market, with 342 fee earners across the country – more than any other firm in the region. The number of lawyers has risen 4.9% over the past year, and the firm has appointed ten new partners since September 2012.

Key deals the firm highlights over the past year include representing the Scotch Whisky Association and representative bodies for EU wine and spirits producers in challenging the Scottish Government's flagship Alcohol Minimum Pricing Bill; acting for the Royal Bank of Scotland in its successful defence of a landmark case regarding the alleged mis-selling of an interest rate swap derivative; and supporting Tennent Caledonian Breweries in its innovative funding initiative to provide financial support to many of its on-trade businesses. 

Brodies is also a founding member of PRIME, the initiative to encourage greater diversity by offering work experience to young people from less-privileged backgrounds. 

Pictured: Brodies chairman Christine O'Neill 

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Chambers of the Year 

devereux-chambers-of-the-year-webWINNER Devereux Chambers

Finalists 11 Stone Buildings • Essex Court Chambers • Fountain Court Chambers • Littleton Chambers • Serle Court • XXIV Old Buildings

The Chambers of the Year Award went to the leading civil and commercial set Devereux Chambers. According to one judge, Devereux demonstrates "a strong focus on strategy, values and culture", along with "a strength and breadth of work that is second to none". 

The set agreed on its values after consulting with clients, members of chambers and staff. It distilled its values into four areas: "Focusing on what really matters, being commercially astute, possessing excellence in depth and being easy to deal with." 

Its strategy, which is honed during six-monthly planning sessions, is to build the set's profile in commercial law, enhance its status as a leading employment set and consolidate its reputation for top-end personal injury work. 

Devereux was able to provide strong evidence both of the quality of work being undertaken at the set and its financial performance. For example, in Smith and others v Ministry of Defence, Robert Weir QC represented relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq seeking to recover damages from the MoD in negligence for failing provide adequate equipment. 

Timothy Brennan QC acted for HM Revenue & Customs in Sloane Robinson Investment Services Ltd v HMRC, in which the tribunal rejected a company's scheme to pay millions of pounds of bonuses free of income tax and national insurance contributions. 

Meanwhile, Devereux demonstrates its commitment to corporate social responsibility by publishing its diversity data on its website. The set also actively supports the Free Representation Unit and Pro Bono Unit, both via financial donations and through the participation of its members. 

Pictured: the Devereux Chambers team

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

In-house Innovation Award 

blackrock-in-house-innovation-award-webWINNER BlackRock

Finalists ITV • NHS Litigation Authority • Plan International • Standard Life • Unilever • Which?

The legal team at BlackRock won the In-house Award for Innovation off the back of a major compliance exercise that saw it team up with Axiom and Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) to meet this challenge in the most efficient way. 

The project was designed to ensure BlackRock complied with the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), which came into force in July and brings funds under an EU-wide regulatory framework that imposes rigorous legal and regulatory requirements on the industry. 

The scale of this project for BlackRock, which has more than $3.7trn (£2.3trn) under management, is illustrated by the fact that it operates more than 200 funds in EU jurisdictions and markets several hundred more in Europe. Under the terms of the directive, all EU-based fund managers needed to be authorised by national regulators. 

BlackRock also needed to ensure that distribution and marketing for every fund was compliant with the new regime. It also had to comply with a raft of organisational and financial obligations covering compliance, risk management, reporting, transparency, leverage and remuneration. This required changes to almost every process in the business.  

Under its arrangement with Axiom and HSF, BlackRock's legal team owned the strategic direction for the project, HSF oversaw the high-end legal input and Axiom was responsible for its execution. As part of this process, Axiom fielded a non-lawyer project manager to oversee the operational aspects of the exercise. Both Axiom and HSF undertook the work on a capped-fees basis, achieving substantial savings for BlackRock.  

Pictured: BlackRock director of legal Alex Nightingale

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Law Firm Innovation Award 

oliver-campbell-tom-slate-clifford-chance-law-firm-innovation-award-webWINNER Clifford Chance

Finalists Addleshaw Goddard • Axiom • DAC Beachcroft • DLA Piper • Dundas & Wilson • Lawyers On Demand

Clifford Chance (CC) stood out from the crowd for its ground-breaking approach to speeding up and streamlining the distressed debt trading process for its client UBS. 

CC, one of the first firms to internally pioneer 'continuous improvement' efficiency techniques adapted from 'lean' and 'six sigma' methods in the manufacturing industry, was praised for its initiative to improve its combined workflow processes with the Swiss bank.

A team from the magic circle firm hosted a two-day workshop to map out the process of closing a trade with staff from the bank, developing a structured approach that successfully reduced the process of closing trades by up to 30 days. 

The two parties broke down each step in the end-to-end process, and used root-cause analysis and creative brainstorming techniques relating to procedures on both sides. 

The team then put a series of actions to the test during the following three months, including removing bottlenecks such as delays with the counterparty and in signing off trade packets, as well as manual steps related to pricing. 

As a result, the time taken to close many of the trades was reduced by up to 40% and the backlog of trades waiting to close dropped from more than 60 to less than five, significantly minimising the client's risk exposure on multimillion-dollar portfolios.

Since the workshops, CC and UBS have attended regular team reviews to monitor progress and maintain the new process. Additionally, the improved process has reduced time spent on reporting trades by 30%. 

Pictured (left to right): Oliver Campbell and Tom Slate of Clifford Chance

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

CSR Initiative of the Year 

freshfields-csr-initiative-of-the-year-webWINNER Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Finalists Ashurst • Clifford Chance • Dechert • Integreon • Reed Smith

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer was applauded for its efforts in establishing the UK's first legal service for homeless children, a project that is the result of a long-term partnership with the housing charity Shelter. 

The project focuses on using the courts as a means to force local authorities to fulfil their duty to house teenagers. In London there are almost 6,500 people who are known to sleep rough each year, with 16 and 17-year-olds ranked among the most vulnerable groups. 

Freshfields began its initiative to minimise youth homelessness in 2007 when it teamed up with Shelter to set up the Children's Legal Service. Since then it has donated more than £300,000 to fund the project, and in 2012 it renewed its partnership with the charity for another three years.

Key pro bono mandates it has taken on include the test case of TG v Lambeth [2011], where it acted for Shelter to prove that the local authority had breached its duties towards a young homeless person. The firm has taken case files over from its charity partners – including Tower Hamlets Law Centre and Shelter – for its lawyers to draft complaints to local authorities and to the Local Government Ombudsman. 

In April 2012 the firm joined forces with the Law Centres Network to further address the concern that local authorities were failing to look after homeless young people properly, and sent freedom of information requests to every local authority in England to review their joint working protocol. 

The team then spent more than 750 hours of pro bono time reviewing the responses to see whether the law was being properly implemented. 

Pictured (left to right): Freshfields' Rebecca Sambrook and Paul Yates

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Litigation and Regulatory Team of the Year 

cms-cameron-mckenna-litigation-regulatory-team-of-the-year-webWINNER CMS Cameron McKenna

Finalists Allen & Overy • Herbert Smith Freehills • Hogan Lovells • Lawrence Graham • Slaughter and May • Travers Smith

In one of the strongest fields in this year's awards, CMS Cameron McKenna emerged as the winner for its work on a 10-year court battle to save the Hackney Empire Theatre following a dispute with its insurer Aviva over the payment of a £1.1m construction bond.

The case proved to be a David and Goliath battle in which Aviva deployed its far greater resources in its bid to win the case, including obtaining security for its costs in the face of the theatre's significant lack of financial resources.

The firm won every stage of the case, for which it used a 'no win, no fee' arrangement, marking the first time CMS had deployed a conditional fee arrangement (CFA).

It was one of three critical funding arrangements used by the firm to keep the theatre's claim afloat, alongside a partial CFA from David Thomas QC, counsel to Hackney Empire, and the partial funding of limited initial disbursements by businessman Lord Alan Sugar, the theatre's main benefactor.

Sugar, who contributed after CMS persuaded him of the advantages in doing so, thanked the firm for its work on the case in a tweet to his three million Twitter followers. Hackney Empire board member and comedian Griff Rhys Jones also congratulated CMS.

The firm's team arrived at the theatre within hours of the builder's administrators, who locked out the theatre's staff. The team included head of construction disputes Rupert Choat, who led the claim as both partner and junior counsel at all stages to avoid duplicating costs and because the theatre could not afford a junior barrister.

"[The firm] played an important part in saving a national treasure," said one judge. 

Pictured (left to right): CMS' Fritha Wheeler-Ozanne and Rupert Choat

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Education and Training Initiative of the Year 

roberts-jackson-education-and-training-initiative-of-the-year-webWINNER Roberts Jackson

Finalists Clifford Chance • Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer • Osborne Clarke • Shoosmiths • Simmons & Simmons

Fast-expanding industrial disease firm Roberts Jackson is this year recognised for its rolling, intensive six-week training programme for graduates, which has seen more than 50 recruits promoted to fee-earner status as of this June.

Each month the firm recruits five law school graduates with an interest in medicine, many of whom have never worked in a legal environment. Over a six-week period, the graduates are guided through the firm's 'Learning to Care' training programme while working in Roberts Jackson's administration department. The trainees are then asked to sit monthly exams and those that excel are promoted to fee earner. 

As of June, the firm had seen five solicitors qualify through the programme, with a further eight trainees on the books.

The judges were particularly impressed with the firm's mentor system, whereby each recruit is assigned a fee earner to guide them through the training, and often for months after. The training programme was also seen as a key plank in the firm's rapid growth, with profits expected to increase nine-fold to £18m by 2015-16.

Roberts Jackson was set up in 2009 and today employs more than 200 people. At last year's awards it was nominated for Regional Law Firm of the Year.  

Pictured (left to right): Koyes Ahmed and Amrit Atwal of Roberts Jackson

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Supplier of the Year 

opus-2-supplier-of-the-year-webWINNER Opus 2 International

Finalists BigHand • Canon • Huron Legal • LexisNexis • Rekoop

Opus 2′s Magnum system uses cloud-based technology to provide court documents electronically. In the famous Berezovsky v Abramovich trial, it saved an estimated five million sheets of paper, winning the praise of the trial judge Mrs Justice Gloster. 

Opus 2 was founded by Graham Smith-Bernal, a former court stenographer who invented the LiveNote evidence management system, which was sold to Thompson Reuters in 2006. 

Magnum stores all court documents relevant to a piece of litigation electronically, in the cloud. All relevant parties in a case are then provided with secure access to the documents via a laptop or an iPad. 

The system's use in the aforementioned trial was regarded as a resounding success by Gloster, who was effusive in her praise of the system: "I was able to conduct what – at least, so far as I was concerned – was a paperless trial. There can be no doubt that this enabled the trial to be concluded within the allotted timetable, and with the maximum efficiency. It also provided the inestimable advantage, from my perspective, of being able to access my notes made during trial, and the full galaxy of the trial bundles, from wherever I was and at whatever time of day (or night)."

The system is now being rolled out it in major trials and arbitrations across the UK and overseas, with launches in Asia and Africa planned in the coming months. The awards judges praised Opus 2 for its "pioneering use of cloud-based electronic trial bundle software". 

Pictured: Opus 2 chief technology officer Steve Fleming

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Property Team of the Year 

herbert-smith-freehills-property-team-of-the-yearWINNER Herbert Smith Freehills

Finalists Burges Salmon • King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin • Mayer Brown • Nabarro • Pinsent Masons • RPC

The judges awarded Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) with the Property Team of the Year accolade after its work advising EDF Energy on securing the green light for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset.

The project – which was the largest ever to be approved under new planning rules for projects of national significance – involves the construction of the first new nuclear power station in the UK since 1995 and will provide 6% of the UK's electricity. 

The real estate team was led by partners Matthew White, Julian Pollock (pictured) and Nusrat Zar. The team worked closely with EDF Energy's internal project and legal teams to obtain consent for the power station, a process that took more than seven years. HSF advised on all aspects of the planning process, which included the main power site, eight associated sites, numerous highway improvements and works into the Bristol Channel. 

The team also acted on the negotiation of agreements to deliver community benefits worth £100m through the creation of new jobs.

In all, the project will create as many as 25,000 jobs during construction and about 900 permanent jobs during operation, with £100m per year injected into the local economy during peak construction. 

Pictured (left to right): Herbert Smith Freehills' Molly Smith, Julian Pollock, Matthew White and Catherine Howard

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Commercial Team of the Year 

will-holder-sjb-kwm-commercial-team-of-the-year-webWINNER King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin

Finalists Eversheds • Linklaters • Norton Rose Fulbright • Pinsent Masons • Taylor Wessing

King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin edged ahead of the competition in this hotly contested field, with its winning entry focused on its role as Universal Music Group's lead legal counsel on a series of major divestments following its £1.2bn acquisition of EMI Recorded Music, including its £487m sale of interests in music label Parlophone to Warner Music Group.

Parlophone, home to artists including Coldplay, Kylie Minogue and David Guetta, was sold off in a process that involved eight parallel sales, including the sale of EMI's European rights in Now That's What I Call Music! to Sony Music.

Among the deals were the sales of Sanctuary Records, home to The Kinks and Iron Maiden, and Mute Records, which houses artists including Moby and Depeche Mode, to BMG Rights Management. The firm also worked on EMI Recorded Music's subsequent reorganisation.

The firm's commercial, tax, pensions and employment teams pulled together to advise on the particularly complex reorganisation of the Parlophone business, which covers EMI's recorded music operations, artists, assets and personnel across 11 countries. 

Aspects of the mandate included advising on and negotiating the transfer of agreements with digital platform providers including iTunes and Spotify, and setting up intellectual property arrangements for the exploitation of rights by artists including The Beatles.

The deal also involved the transfer of music artist contracts between the businesses and the negotiation of two-way transitional arrangements, from digital content delivery to frontline marketing and royalty processing.

King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin's team on the separation of the businesses spanned the firm's offices in London, Paris and Brussels, and was led by corporate partners Will Holder and Mark Sanders and commercial partner Andrew Shindler.  

Pictured: King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin partner Will Holder

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

M&A Team of the Year (sponsored by Intra Links) 

charlie-jacobs-linklaters-m-a-team-of-the-year-webWINNER Linklaters

Finalists Ashurst • Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer • Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson • Shearman & Sterling • Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom • Slaughter and May

Linklaters scooped M&A Team of the Year for its multi-award winning role advising Glencore on its $70bn (£43bn) all-share merger with the FTSE 100 mining company Xstrata. "Awe inspiring" is how one judge characterised this deal. 

Linklaters provided both legal and strategic advice to Glencore, seeing it evolve from a little-known private company three years ago to a major player in the mining world, with the eventual merger conducted in the media spotlight.

Led by corporate partner Charlie Jacobs, the tie-up has created the fourth largest mining company in the world with a unique business model. Linklaters had been involved in the preparations for the merger since 2006, advising on a series of financings relating to Glencore's interest in Xstrata. 

The team also advised Glencore in relation to its $2.2bn (£1.3bn) convertible bond issue in 2010 and listing on the London and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges, which the firm says all played their part in creating a currency (and valuation mechanic) for the merger with Xstrata.

Due to the size of the deal, it required approval of Glencore's shareholders and, in little over a year, the magic circle firm had to prepare an unprecedented number of public documents. The deal was one of the first (and is still the largest) Takeover Code-governed transactions to be conducted under the New Takeover Code, following the September 2011 rule changes.

Linklaters' competition team also had to co-ordinate merger clearance in 13 jurisdictions, in a process that took more than 14 months, including coming up with particularly innovative arrangements to gain agreement from China's Ministry of Commerce. 

Pictured (left to right): Charlie Jacobs and Tracey Lochhead of Linklaters

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Banking, Finance or Restructuring Team of the Year 

nabarro-banking-finance-restructuring-team-of-the-year-webWINNER Nabarro

Finalists Burges Salmon • Hogan Lovells • Linklaters • Macfarlanes • Weil Gotshal & Manges • White & Case

Nabarro scooped the award for Banking, Financing and Restructuring Team of the Year for helping to save the UK coal industry – twice. Its highlight deal was its work on two complex restructurings of UK Coal after the group's pension deficit almost doubled.

The Nabarro team was led by insolvency and restructuring partner Glen Flannery and corporate partner Ben Hendry, with pensions partner Ian Greenstreet. The team advised UK Coal on tax efficiency, new banking facilities, securing better deals with customers and moving the company from a premium listing to a standard listing – all of which saved the group from insolvency. 

The firm stepped in again following a fire at UK Coal's Daw Mill colliery in February, which wiped out £150m of future revenue overnight. Nabarro carried out a second restructuring that involved a pre-packaged administration sale. This safeguarded more than 2,000 regional jobs and effectively rescued the nation's coal industry.

UK Coal's group finance director David Brocksom and company secretary Geoff Mason said: "We were genuinely impressed by the pragmatic advice we received throughout. Despite significant time pressures, Ben and his team expertly guided us through the complexities of the process with great professionalism, skill and personality. 

"They put their all into the deal, driving it forward and pushing others where necessary. Their input, support and experience were invaluable." 

Pictured (left to right): Nabarro's Glen Flannery, Tracey Marsden and Ian Greenstreet

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

TMT Team of the Year 

wragge-co-tmt-team-of-the-year-webWINNER Wragge & Co

Finalists Baker & McKenzie • Bird & Bird • DLA Piper • Mills & Reeve • Pinsent Masons • Simmons & Simmons

The TMT award went to Wragge & Co's intellectual property (IP) group after the firm saved an aircraft seat manufacturer from a £48m patent infringement claim and overturned more than 100 years of law.

The lawyers fought a long-running case that began in 2007, when the client, Zodiac Seats UK, was threatened with a multimillion-pound claim by Virgin for alleged infringment of design rights and a European patent for its own flat-bed Upper Class aircraft seats.

The case went on for six years, involving the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the European Patent Office (EPO). 

As well as fighting a battle against the validity of Virgin's claim, Wragges' team – led by partner Gordon Harris – was also confronted with an old piece of English law dating back to 1908. The 'Unilin principle' says that once damages have been awarded in patent cases, even if the patent is subsequently found to be invalid, damages must still be paid. Wragges presented a detailed legal argument to the Supreme Court in its bid to change the law. 

The favourable ruling by Britain's highest court has since been widely welcomed by the legal community for clearing the way for a more modern approach to patent law. The implications of the judgment could also be far-reaching for the conduct of IP litigation in the UK, with an increased likelihood of stays pending EPO decisions. 

The judges praised Wragges for its "tenacious and persistent" approach. 

Pictured (left to right): Antony Craggs and James Rowlands, Wragge & Co

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Private Client Team of the Year 

stephens-scown-private-client-team-of-the-year-webWINNER Stephens Scown

Finalists Bircham Dyson Bell • Charles Russell • Taylor Wessing • Withers

Stephens Scown boasts one of the leading family and private client teams in the South West. 

The awards judges were particularly impressed with the firm's work advising on death in active service exemption cases, in which the firm has carved out a niche, often undertaking research into military and medical records to prove that deaths that occurred many years after the particular conflict were related to veterans' original war-time injuries.

One case the firm highlights saw it advise on the estate of an 85-year-old veteran who sustained injuries in Burma in 1944 and died in 2006. The team successfully managed to have the cause of death on the death certificate changed, which they believe was the first time that this has happened. As a result of its own advice, the firm made a saving of more than £1m in inheritance tax. 

Another case saw Stephens Scown advise the estate of a client who was injured in World War II and suffered a lower leg amputation. The firm's client died 67 years after his original injuries were sustained, but the team was able to prove that the causes of death were related to problems caused by his original injuries. As a result, the client's family saved £400,000 in inheritance tax.

The team has seen a 20% increase in new matters over the past year, including taking on some of the largest estates in Devon and Cornwall as clients. 

Pictured (left ro right): Stephens Scown's Liz Allen and Graham Murdoch

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Assistant/Associate Solicitor of the Year (sponsored by Robert Walters) 

emilie-jones-covington-burling-associate-of-the-year-webWINNER Emilie Jones, Covington & Burling (pictured)

Finalists Camille Astier, Hogan Lovells • Robert Haak, Ropes & Gray • Tracey Lochhead, Linklaters  • Jiten Tank, Paul Hastings • John Tippett Cooper, Capsticks

Adding a dash of glamour to this year's proceedings was the award for Assistant/Associate Solicitor, which went to Covington & Burling's fashion and fragrance brand expert Emilie Jones. 

Recently promoted to senior associate in the corporate group, she was praised for her efforts in spearheading the firm's marketing campaign for the brand's practice, which included setting up a practice blog, CovBrands. As well as receiving a significant amount of positive feedback from clients, the blog initiative is now being considered for other departments. 

Other achievements include leading the reorganisation of an Italian fashion house's operations in India, which made front-page news in India's The Economic Times. The role involved Jones flying to India on three hours' notice to negotiate the termination of a joint venture with an Indian conglomerate, and to oversee a new franchise arrangement with a prominent Indian fashion retailer. 

Notably, Jones was also commended for her handling of all the international work for The Haddad Apparel Group, the global licensee of Nike, Levi's, Jordan and Converse Kids' apparel and accessories. 

For this particular client, she recently completed a three-tiered joint venture in Greater China and numerous distribution and franchise arrangements across Asia, Africa and South America. The client applauded her for her work, which it said would allow it to open more than 300 new retail doors and shop-in-shops within three years. 

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Legal Counsel of the Year 

rebecca-clark-uk-asset-recovery-legal-counsel-of-the-year-webWINNER Rebecca Clark, UK Asset Resolution (pictured)

Finalists Jeremy Cross, Anesco • Jeremy Evans, Liberty Global • Greg Morris, SThree • Conor O'Flaherty, Microsoft

UK Asset Resolution (UKAR) litigation head Rebecca Clark faces a unique challenge – the better she and her team perform, the quicker they ultimately lose their jobs. 

This is because UKAR is the holding company tasked with the orderly management of the Government-owned mortgage books of Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock Asset Management.

UKAR has returned £1.9bn to taxpayers in the wake of the financial crisis, with Clark's team becoming the largest profit centre within the organisation. This year the Bradford & Bingley team recovered £20m in fraud and professional negligence claims in the first six months alone, nearly the same amount recovered for the whole of 2012. 

This was achieved despite external legal spend falling by 34% on last year, as well as a formidable case load, with the team pursuing third parties for fraud, breach of contract and/or professional negligence on almost 6,000 separate accounts.

Clark's team is also exploring new avenues of recovery via litigation. In the past year, more than £5.5m was recovered from insurers arising from the failure of solicitors to report back-to-back uplifts and direct deposits on performing portfolios, where UKAR has yet to suffer a crystallised loss. This is ground-breaking litigation given that there is no direct legal authority for recovering uncrystallised losses.

These impressive successes have been achieved alongside a push for the team to be recognised both internally and externally as a centre for excellence, with an internal PR strategy that has included re-educating the business and highlighting how her team produces a valuable income stream.  

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Best Use of Technology 

skadden-best-use-of-technology-craig-kelly-and-adam-howard-associates-webWINNER Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom

Finalists Napthens • SThree • Taylor Vinters • Weightmans • Wragge & Co

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom secures this award for the part it played in bringing Opus 2′s Magnum case management system to the market while successfully defending Roman Abramovich in last year's high-profile Berezovsky v Abramovich trial.  

The trial, which was the largest case ever to be heard in the Commercial Court, was a triumph for the Skadden team, which secured a complete victory for its client against Boris Berezovsky's $6bn (£3.7bn) claim. The dispute related to events that had taken place over a 17-year timespan and involved a massive volume of evidential material. 

The team embraced Opus 2′s Magnum paperless technology because it calculated that storing the documents digitally in such a way that evidence could be easily found would allow it to respond quickly to any claims by the plaintiff that might put the defence in doubt. 

A team of Skadden litigators and IT professionals, led by partner Karyl Nairn QC, worked closely with Opus 2 to implement the system. All relevant materials were made available in digital form on the web and then integrated into a live simultaneous translation and transcription facility, which was delivered in both Russian and English during the trial. 

"An application like this is long overdue and well done to Skadden for coming up with it, particularly as they developed it in a live trial situation," observed one of the awards judges. 

Pictured (left to right): Craig Kelly and Adam Howard of Skadden

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

European Law Firm of the Year

magnusson-european-law-firm-of-the-year-webWINNER Magnusson

Finalists Asters • Garrigues • Gomez-Acebo & Pombo • Miranda Correia Amendoeira • Pepeliaev Group

The judges honoured Baltic law firm Magnusson with the European Law Firm of the Year award for the second year in a row after it achieved its goal of pan-regional coverage of the Baltic Sea region.

This year Magnusson has launched offices in Germany in February, Lithuania in May and most recently the Ukraine. 

The firm continues to offer pan-regional fee arrangements, helping it to win clients with various discount schemes and risk-sharing solutions. 

Over the past 18 months, it has secured several major client wins including Axa, Coca-Cola, East Capital, Facebook, Ghelamco, Motorola and UBS. 

This year Magnusson also became the adviser to Turkish construction giant Gulermak on its bid for the Copenhagen Metro project. In addition, it is advising a joint venture between Apollo Rida and Axa on the refinancing of their 28-unit shopping centre portfolio in Poland – one of the largest projects in Central Europe in recent years. 

The firm has hired 16 new partners and recorded an impressive 29% increase in fee income for the 2012-13 financial year. Meanwhile, its international secondment programme has arranged 13 secondments this year for both lawyers and support staff.  

A programme to boost female representation in senior positions has also yielded striking results – almost half (42.8%) of its offices are managed by female partners, including all of its Lithuanian and Swedish operations. 

Pictured (left to right): Magnusson's Per Magnusson and Mariusz Kowalski

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

European Legal Team of the Year

paul-hastings-european-legal-team-of-the-year-webWINNER Paul Hastings

Finalists Alber & Geiger • Bech-Bruun • Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton • Latham & Watkins • Shearman & Sterling

Paul Hastings took home the European Legal Team of the Year award thanks to the efforts of a team led out of the US firm's Paris office, which acted for advertising company Insert on one of France's first-ever pre-pack reorganisations – "a deal that might change the law", according to an awards judge.

A team led by Paris corporate partner Lionel Spizzichino advised the management of Insert – France's leading provider of small and mid-size outdoor advertising and billboard displays – on the pre-pack deal, which saw the business avoid costly and damaging insolvency proceedings with the management becoming the main shareholders of a solvent company.

Pre-pack arrangements – which see a sale negotiated before the appointment of an administrator, with the administrator effecting the sale on their appointment – are, strictly speaking, not yet authorised under French law. But following the resounding success of Insert's reorganisation, the French Government is now considering an amendment to the law to permit such deals.

Pre-pack deals have hit the headlines in the UK this year, with high-profile examples including fast-rising national law firm DWF's takeover of Cobbetts, Baker Tilly's acquisition of accountancy rival RSM Tenon and the sale of beds retailer Dreams to private equity house Sun Capital Partners.

Thanks to the efforts of Paul Hastings and Spizzichino, a formal framework may now be established in the French market that will give companies in distress more options to successfully reorganise their business and avoid an unfortunate demise.

Pictured: Arun Birla of Paul Hastings

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

London Office of the Year

paul-maher-greenberg-traurig-maher-london-office-of-the-year-webWINNER Greenberg Traurig Maher

Finalists Debevoise & Plimpton • Edwards Wildman • King & Spalding • Morgan Lewis & Bockius • Ropes & Gray • Weil Gotshal & Manges

In the four years since Paul Maher launched Greenberg Traurig Maher's London office, it has grown to 16 partners and 43 fee earners working on headline deals across corporate, capital markets and property. "High praise from clients and impressive development in a short time scale," said the judges. 

Maher, former vice chairman of Mayer Brown, set out to build a full-service practice undertaking high-end M&A, capital markets and property work. As evidence that the plan is paying off, Greenberg cited several eye-catching instructions across its key practice areas. 

These include advising new client Volvo on the £700m sale of its aerospace business to GKN, and Cathedral Group and Development Securities on the £800m regeneration of London's Greenwich Peninsula. 

In addition, three associates at Greenberg's London base have been promoted to the partnership over the past two years. The office is also a signatory to the Law Society Diversity and Inclusion Charter, and contributes to the Pro Bono Competition Law Scheme as well as providing employment advice to the Red Balloon Learner Centres for bullied children. 

The firm's submission was peppered with glowing references from clients. Andy Ransom, chief executive of Rentokil Initial, said: "I know that the lawyer in me makes for an extremely demanding and, some might say, difficult client. 

"But in my experience, Greenberg's total commitment, great service standards and commercial aptitude are second to none. They are an outstanding team."

Pictured: Paul Maher

Back to top

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Offshore Law Firm of the Year

rob-duggan-mourant-ozannes-offshore-law-firm-of-the-year-webWINNER Mourant Ozannes

Finalists Appleby • Conyers Dill & Pearman • Maples and Calder • Ogier • Walkers

Mourant Ozannes emerged as the winner in the closely contested Offshore Law Firm of the Year category following a sustained period of success for the firm, which has seen it expand its global presence through office openings in Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands (BVI).

The firm, which now has six offices around the world following  the Hong Kong and BVI launches, has taken roles on some of the most high-profile M&A deals of the year, including advising Schroders on its £424m public takeover of Cazenove Capital (see box, below).

Mourant Ozannes regularly advises 19 of the world's top 20 banks, with its instructions garnered via relationships with 62% of the top 100 global law firms. The awards judges cited the firm's business wins as a key factor in its success in the category, with notable roles including acting for liquidators of a number of funds affected by the Bernard Madoff fraud scandal.

As well as launching its new offices and moving into new premises in the Cayman Islands in 2012, Mourant Ozannes has recently added a total of 42 lawyers to its ranks, including 11 litigators, which, according to the firm, gives it the largest litigation team of any offshore law firm.

The firm's strategy is to be one of the best law firms in the best international financial centres – in other words, the 'best in the best'. Building strength in depth in core practice areas and resisting the temptation to spread itself too thinly are instrumental to the firm's success.

It also sets great store by the fact that it operates a single equity structure for its partners. 

Senior partner Robert Shepherd said: "With our all-equity partnership model and a single profit pool across our offices, we are unique among the major offshore firms – promoting a cohesive one-firm approach and a shared sense of purpose and strategic clarity."

Managing partner Jonathan Rigby added that the firm had had a good financial year, with litigation performing at full capacity throughout and transactional work picking up in the past few months reflecting an uptick in deal flow in New York, London and Hong Kong.   

He identified the recent office openings as key strategic moves for the firm. 

"We decided to open in Hong Kong and BVI about two-and-a-half years ago. It was fundamentally important to find the right people – we wouldn't have launched the offices if we hadn't found people of the right calibre. Revenue in our Hong Kong and BVI offices is 25% ahead of budget and we are winning terrific bluechip work."

Rigby added that over the past two years, the firm has made a number of significant investments in the future of the business and anticipated a period of consolidation as it focused on fulfilling its ambition of being the best law firm in each of its four jurisdictions.

The firm was also praised by the judges for its employee development, including a new partner development programme that sees both new and aspiring partners benefit from a programme of modules led by Rigby and external trainers from magic circle backgrounds.

Meanwhile, Mourant Ozannes' CSR programme sees its employees participate in adult literacy programmes, fundraising for hospices and more than 50 local charities, as well as providing pro bono advice for local charities.

Pictured: Mourant Ozannes' London managing partner Rob Duggan

Mourant Ozannes' highlight deals

• Acted for the joint official liquidators of the multibillion-dollar Kingate Funds on BVI law. The funds were two of the largest investors in Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities. 

• Acted for Arcapita Bank and its subsidiaries on the Cayman Islands aspects of its restructuring. The debtor-in-possession financing involved more than 68 Cayman companies giving guarantees/security, and more than 400 Cayman companies overall. This was the first such financing to be completed on an Islamic-compliant basis. 

• Advised Zolfo Cooper, the liquidators of the Primeo Fund, on the fund's ongoing liquidation in the Cayman Islands after it lost most of its assets in the Madoff fraud. 

• From its Hong Kong office, advised L Capital Asia, the private equity arm of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, on the establishment of L Capital Asia 2 in the Cayman Islands. This was one of the highest-profile private equity fund raisings in the Asia market. 

• Acting for Carlyle Capital Corporation in Guernsey action for damages and anti-suit proceedings involving a compensation claim of more than $1bn (£600m). This is one of the largest claims ever to progress before the Royal Court of Guernsey. 

• Advising the YT Charitable Foundation in Jersey on a major trust dispute and preliminary issue relating to the interpretation of articles of association, and a compromise agreement in which nearly £225m was at stake.

• Acted for Schroders on its £424m public takeover of Cazenove Capital. This was implemented by means of a scheme of arrangement sanctioned by the Royal Court of Jersey.  

Back to top