Tag: Stephenson Harwood

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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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‘I want the firm to be more ambitious and more confident’: Stephenson Harwood rebounds with double-digit revenue growth

Stephenson Harwood has reported an 11% rise in turnover to £228m from £206m for 2022/23, the firm’s highest-ever revenue. It comes after the firm reported largely flat financials for the year 2021/22.

This time around, profit per equity partner (PEP) is up 6% to £725,000 from £685,000 in 2021/22. The firm has added 22 equity partners, with 11 lateral hires and 11 internal promotions over the last year, while four partners have retired from the partnership.

Speaking to Legal Business about the revenue increase and the firm’s ambitions Eifion Morris (pictured), the firm’s chief executive, highlighted its five-year strategy, which launched in May 2022 with the aim of doubling the firm’s turnover by 2027. Morris said: ‘We want growth, we want ambitious partners, and we want to grow in all sectors. If you want to double revenue in a short space of time, you need an active program of lateral hires. We have had a lot of radical change in a short period, and we are starting to see that pay off. This is not the endpoint but the start.’

The strategy will focus the business on five key sectors to increase profitable growth: decarbonisation, life sciences, private capital and funds, technology, and transportation and trade. These were identified by the firm as sectors which will see strong growth and development over the next few years.

Stephenson Harwood also intends to maintain its 50-50 litigation-transactional balance. 50% of the firm’s revenue currently comes from disputes, which has always been a notable strength of the firm and several of its contentious practices are ranked in The Legal 500. This includes commodities disputes and pensions dispute resolution, which receive a top-tier ranking; commercial litigation: premium, and contentious trusts and probate, which are ranked tier two; and banking litigation: investment and retail, property litigation, and intellectual property patents (contentious) which are ranked in tier three.

The current revenue breakdown across the firm’s practice areas is finance 24%, commercial litigation 28%, corporate 21%, marine and international trade 12%, employment, pensions and private wealth 10% and real estate and projects 6%.

‘At the heart of our strategy is maintaining and leveraging the 50-50 litigation-transactional balance of the firm. This has been very important for maintaining growth, and we are a very well-hedged business,’ Morris said.

The firm has also been bedding in a new global leadership team as part of its ambitions moving forward. The team is 50% male and 50% female. Morris highlighted the importance of this: ‘With the new global leadership team, I wanted to encourage diversity of background so that the team would bring different ideas and life experience to the table. The team formed during Covid, and we have had to deal with a lot of difficult decisions, but this meant we formed a very strong team.’

Stephenson Harwood highlighted several key mandates for the year across its life sciences, dispute resolution, rail and road, and corporate practices, including advising Bicycle Therapeutics on its radiopharmaceuticals deal with Novartis to develop several oncology radioligand therapies. It also represented Trafigura in the Trafigura v Gupta case and advised on Abellio UK and Nederlandse Spoorwegen management buyout.

Other highlights include advising WindAcre Partnership on its part of the acquisition of Nielsen Holdings, valued at over $16bn and LXi REIT on its £773m debt refinancing.

Looking forward, Morris is committed to raising the firm’s profile. ‘I want the firm to be more ambitious, and more confident. One of our best clients told us that we were “the best law firm you’ve never heard of”. That is something I want to change,’ he said.

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This article first appeared on our sister publication Legal Business.