Tag: addleshaw goddard

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HSF Kramer, Addleshaws and Quinn chief take top prizes at Legal Business Awards

Addleshaw Goddard, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer and Sullivan & Cromwell were among the big winners at this year’s Legal Business Awards, which saw more than 30 prizes handed out to the top firms, chambers, in-house teams, and individual lawyers in the profession.

Hundreds of attendees from the very top of the legal industry flocked to the Grosvenor House Hotel on London’s Park Lane for this year’s ceremony, which was hosted by award-winning comedian, writer, actor and director Richard Ayoade.

Addleshaws took the UK Law Firm of the Year award after a strong year which marked the culmination of nine consecutive years of growth in both revenue and PEP, while HSF Kramer won International Law Firm of the Year on the back of its transformative transatlantic merger.

Sullivan & Cromwell took the Global London Law Firm of the Year prize after a major City push that included last year’s hires of former Weil London chief Mike Francies and Kirkland restructuring partner Kon Asimacopoulos, with the firm continuing its recruitment drive into 2026 with more big-name recruits.

Latham & Watkins was named M&A Team of the Year for its lead role on the landmark Anglo-Teck merger, valued at nearly $70bn.

Sidley was the winner in the new category of Client Service Firm of the Year, which recognises firms that perform exceptionally on key client service metrics in Legal 500’s London research.

This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award went to Quinn Emanuel founder John Quinn, who announced earlier this year that he is set to step down as head of the disputes powerhouse that he co-founded four decades ago. He remains chair of the firm, and in his acceptance speech, he stressed that he is not ready to slow down, saying ‘Quinn is an unfinished project – we’re not done’.

Other awards for individual leaders included Management Partner of the Year, which went to Shane Gleghorn of Winston Taylor – now Europe and Middle East managing partner of the merged firm as it targets $2bn in revenue – while Benedict Nwaeke of Soho House & Co took the GC of the Year prize.

Unilever was named In-House Team of the Year, while Sainsbury’s won the Most Transformative In-House Team of the Year award.

Rising Star In-House Counsel of the Year went to Suzy Lovell of Kier, who was recently promoted to deputy GC.

Other major practice awards saw Clifford Chance named Private Equity Team of the Year, Kirkland & Ellis take the Restructuring Team of the Year prize and Hogan Lovells Cadwalader win Finance Team of the Year.

Slaughter and May was named Capital Markets Team of the Year, while Stephenson Harwood won Disputes Team of the Year.

Freshfields was named Life Sciences Team of the Year, while Ashurst Perkins Coie and BCLP jointly won Real Estate Team of the Year. The newly merged Ashurst Perkins Coie also picked up the inaugural AI Initiative of the Year award.

Elsewhere, CMS, Venner Shipley and Altair IP won IP Team of the Year, while Osborne Clarke took Legal Technology Team of the Year.

The awards also recognised a strong showing from the Bar, as Fountain Court was named Chambers of the Year, while Sonia Tolaney KC of One Essex Court won Barrister of the Year on the back of a string of high-profile cases.

Legal Business Awards 2026 winners in full:

AI Initiative of the Year: Ashurst Perkins Coie
Barrister of the Year: Sonia Tolaney KC, One Essex Court
Boutique Law Firm of the Year: SDV Fenchurch
Business Services Team of the Year: DAC Beachcroft
Capital Markets Team of the Year: Slaughter and May
Chambers of the Year: Fountain Court
Client Service Firm of the Year: Sidley
Competition Team of the Year: Weil Gotshal & Manges
Disputes Team of the Year: Stephenson Harwood
Energy/Infrastructure Team of the Year: Pinsent Masons
ESG Programme of the Year: Mayer Brown
Finance Team of the Year: Hogan Lovells
GC of the Year: Benedict Nwaeke, Soho House & Co
Global London Law Firm of the Year: Sullivan & Cromwell
In-House Team of the Year: Unilever
International Law Firm of the Year: Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer
IP Team of the Year: CMS with Venner Shipley and Altair IP
Legal Technology Team of the Year: Osborne Clarke
Life Sciences Team of the Year: Freshfields
Lifetime Achievement Award: John Quinn, Quinn Emanuel
M&A Team of the Year: Latham & Watkins
Management Partner of the Year: Shane Gleghorn, Winston Taylor
Most Transformative In-House Team of the Year: Sainsbury’s
Private Client Team of the Year: Howard Kennedy
Private Equity Team of the Year: Clifford Chance
Public Sector Team of the Year: Burges Salmon
Real Estate Team of the Year: Ashurst Perkins Coie and BCLP
Restructuring Team of the Year: Kirkland & Ellis
Rising Star In-House Counsel of the Year: Suzy Lovell, Kier
UK Law Firm of the Year: Addleshaw Goddard

This story first appeared on Legal Business.

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Revolving doors: Swings and roundabouts for Squires and Addleshaws as 2Birds fills real estate gap

City hires picked up pace again last week after a fallow patch as leading firms made prominent additions to a number of key practice areas. Squire Patton Boggs hired to its private equity practice while Bird & Bird and Addleshaw Goddard strengthened their real estate benches.

Squires added to its global corporate practice in London with the hire of Stephen Ball. He joined the firm’s international private equity team as a partner from KPMG where he served as chief executive and vice chairman. Ball advises on financial services, risk, strategy and corporate governance for global banks, companies, private equity firms, hedge funds and governments.

Squires’ European managing partner Jonathan Jones commented: ‘Stephen’s reputation precedes him, as a widely respected, highly trusted advisor on business strategy and decision-making at the highest level. He brings with him years of experience, in terms of personally leading global teams and firms and of advising international businesses – global private equity houses, major corporates, banks and financial institutions – on the most complex of matters.’

Bird & Bird meanwhile added Addleshaws partner James Salford to its real estate finance practice in London. Salford advises lenders and borrowers on debt and also reviews and negotiates hotel operating agreements.

Co-head of the retail & consumer sector group at Bird & Bird Mark Abell told Legal Business: ‘We decided to go the market and bring someone with the right seniority and right level of skills into the team and I think we’ve made an exceptionally strong recruitment. It’s not one of those roulette hires- there’s a real need and real opportunities. In the hotel sector we are growing at a pretty phenomenal pace and the main strategic goal is to fulfil that potential. There’s plenty of opportunities that are there for the taking.’

To mitigate the loss, Addleshaws hired Squires partner Rachel Orton to its real estate team in London. Orton acts for investors, developers and finance clients on transactions in the healthcare, retirement living and build-to-rent sectors.

Head of Addleshaws real estate division Adrian Collins commented: ‘Senior living and healthcare within the BTR sector is expanding rapidly, with an ageing population and longer life expectancy driving the requirement. Rachel is a fantastic addition to the team not only as her clients provide existing synergies with our real estate offering, but she can draw on strong support from our market leading construction and infrastructure teams.’

Orton told Legal Business: ‘I am excited to be joining a firm with such a high calibre real estate team as Addleshaw Goddard. In light of their existing impressive credentials in the build-to-rent sector and enthusiasm for and willingness to invest in the senior living and extra care sector, Addleshaw Goddard was an obvious choice for me.’

Orton’s hire follows the recent addition of former Linklaters real estate disputes head Frances Richardson to Addleshaws’ real estate team.

Elsewhere, Dentons recruited partner Shane O’Donnell to its corporate team in Dublin. O’Donnell joined the firm from William Fry where he has been head of corporate for the last five years. He advises leading domestic and international corporations, financial institutions and government organisations on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, fundraisings and take-private transactions.

Dentons managing partner in Ireland Eavan Saunders said: ‘Attracting such a high calibre partner demonstrates the ambitions we have for the Dublin office. Shane is an acknowledged leader in his field and will be a tremendous addition to the Dentons offering in Ireland.’

Finally, in Los Angeles, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett made a rare lateral play with the additions of Gregory Klein and Michael Kaplan from Irell & Manella to its M&A practice.

Klein and Kaplan are experienced in private equity transactions, mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings and related corporate matters, as well as advising venture investors, hedge funds and other institutional money managers, founders, startups and early-stage companies on investments, debt and equity financings and governance issues.

Chairman of Simpson Thacher’s executive committee Bill Dougherty commented: ‘Their addition will further enhance our ability to meet our clients’ needs both in California and beyond. Their experience advising on mergers and acquisitions, particularly in the middle-market, as well as on growth equity investments, is an ideal complement to our strength in private equity across the board.’

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This article first appeared on Legal Business.

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Dealwatch: Slaughters and Ashurst make headlines on i newspaper sale as DLA and A&O dine out on Bookatable acquisition

In a busy week for UK buyouts, Slaughter and May advised Daily Mail and General Trust on the £49.6m acquisition from JPIMedia of i newspaper and its website by its consumer media business, DMG Media.

The Slaughters team was led by corporate partner Rebecca Cousin while an Ashurst  team led by corporate partner Braeden Donnelly advised JPIMedia Group.

Donnelly told Legal Business: ‘The sale of the i newspaper to Daily Mail was a significant first step for JPIMedia in realising value for bondholders. It is also part of a wider trend we are seeing in the UK print media market where consolidation is picking up pace as media owners respond to slowing print sales and increased competition from online alternatives.’

The deal was completed on 29 November. Ashurst previously advised Johnston Press on its acquisition of the i newspaper business from Independent Print Limited in 2016.

Meanwhile, DLA Piper advised Michelin on the sale of London-headquartered restaurant reservation business Bookatable to TripAdvisor company TheFork.

The acquisition allows competitor TheFork to consolidate in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Finland and Norway meaning that 14,000 restaurants on Bookatable will join the 67,000 restaurants available on TheFork.

The DLA team was led by London partner Tim Wright and Paris partner Simon Charbit while an Allen & Overy team led by Richard Browne advised TripAdvisor.

The acquisition follows Michelin’s content and licensing partnership with TripAdvisor and its subsidiary TheFork. The partnership means that Michelin guide inspectors will be grading restaurants according to the ‘stars, bib gourmand and Michelin plate’ on the TripAdvisor and TheFork websites. 4,000 restaurants in Europe will also be available on TheFork and the Michelin Guide’s digital platform.

French firm Gide advised Michelin on the partnership with a team led by partner Guillaume Rougier-Brierre.

Elsewhere, Travers Smith has advised New York Stock Exchange-listed company Noble Corporation on the acquisition of its 50%interest in the Bully I and Bully II drillship joint ventures by a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell for a value of $166m.

Shell will pay a final cash settlement of roughly $59m of to Noble for its two drillships. Nobel, which owns and operates fleets in the offshore drilling industry, issued a note payable to Shell which satisfied a portion of the buyout price.

The Travers team was led by corporate partner Richard Spedding and Shell was advised in-house.

Finally, Addleshaw Goddard advised the promotional products company Pebble Group on its flotation on the AIM market with a fundraising value of £135m. It is the eighth IPO on AIM this year and the largest in terms of funds raised. The firm also advised on the £28m essensys listing in May and the £57m Brickability Group IPO in September.

The Addleshaw team was led by corporate partner Richard Lee. Lee told Legal Business: ‘What it means for the group is that they are no longer a private equity owned business and they no longer have the debt structure that goes with the private equity ownership. It gives them an improved balance sheet because the funds they raised in the IPO have been used to pay off the debt which they were previously carrying.

‘There were preferred share structures in there, plus loan notes, plus bank debts and the purpose of the fundraising for the company was to clear out that debt,’ added Lee.

The equity fundraise was managed by Berenberg with Grant Thornton acting as adviser. A London Bird & Bird equity capital markets team led by Adam Carling advised Berenberg as broker and Grant Thornton as nominated adviser.

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This article first appeared on Legal Business.