The Legal 500

Clifford Chance was awarded the top prize at last night’s annual IFLR Middle East Awards, winning "Middle East Law Firm of the Year" – the only firm to have won the top award twice.

The firm triumphed at last night's award ceremony, walking away with awards for "Debt & Equity-linked Team of the Year" and "Restructuring Team of the Year", as well as two "Deals of the Year" awards for Debt & Equity-linked and Restructuring.

The Deals of the Year awards were given for the firm's work on the Nakheel securitisation and the Borse Dubai refinancing.

Al-Jadaan & Partners Law Firm, with whom Clifford Chance has a co-operation agreement in Saudi Arabia, won "Saudi Law Firm of the Year", winning the title for four years running and confirming our association's high profile practice in the Kingdom.

Accepting the award on behalf of the firm, Dubai office Managing Partner Graham Lovett applauded the Clifford Chance team:  "This is the second time since 2007 that we have scooped this award, no mean feat considering the level of competition that exists in this market. It is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team in the Middle East and internationally, and we are delighted to have been recognised in this way".

The awards ceremony was held on Wednesday night at the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, and was attended by lawyers from throughout the Middle East.

For further information about Clifford Chance see www.cliffordchance.com

• Clifford Chance's 92-lawyer UAE offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are fully integrated into the firm's worldwide network of offices and have a market leading finance practice in the Middle East. The firm celebrated its 30th anniversary in the United Arab Emirates in 2005, having opened its first office in the region in Sharjah in 1975. 
• Clifford Chance is one of the world's leading law firms, helping clients achieve their goals by combining the highest global standards with local expertise. The firm has unrivalled scale and depth of legal resources across the four key markets of the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, and focuses on the core areas of commercial activity: capital markets; corporate and M&A; finance and banking; real estate; tax; pensions and employment; litigation and dispute resolution. Clifford Chance has 29 offices in 20 countries with 3,600 legal advisers and also operates a 'best friends' arrangement with AZB & Partners in India and with Lakatos, Köves & Partners in Hungary, and a co-operation agreement with Al-Jadaan & Partners Law Firm in Saudi Arabia.
• Clifford Chance was ranked 'tier one' in more international tables than any other firm in the Chambers Global 2009 Directory.  This independent analysis focuses on firms' legal ability, professional conduct, client service, and commercial awareness, and these rankings provide outstanding recognition for the Firm's breadth of expertise and consistency of quality across global markets. 
• Clifford Chance was named 'Most Innovative Law Firm' in the 2008 Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards, an in-depth Europe-wide analysis of innovation in law firms in areas from legal expertise to client service, marketing, environment and technology.