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What a night!
With veritable who's who of the legal world on hand, the Asian Legal Business Awards kicked off with nearly 320 guests and a further 90 on the waiting list.Below find a list of the winners along with some shots from the night - come back regularly over the next few days as we upload the rest of our photos.
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Simon Ip collects the Mercedes Benz Award for best Hong Kong Law Firm on behalf of JSM
JSM emerged as winners of the Mercedes Benz Award for best Hong Kong Law firm 2002. In a tightly fought contest, JSM managed to beat off local rivals Deacons and the local offices of some of the major internationals to add a third trophy to its Real Estate and Insolvency awards. |
Allen & Overy scoop Egon Zehnder Employer of Choice
Allen & Overy proved themselves to be the most popular firm on the block (at least with job hunters) by walking away with the coveted Egon Zehnder Employer of Choice Award. The award recognises the firm most people would want to work for. |
Freshfields secure VDB Best China Practice Award
Patrick Lines (see November's ALB for an interview) picked up the VDB Best China Practice Award on behalf of Freshfields. The award was presented by VDB's General Manager, Mr Bobby Wu. The win in this important category reflects Freshfields' commitment to the mainland and their impressive stable of high-quality China professionals. |
Baker & McKenzie win two-horse race
With a shortlist of just two finalists, Tax and Trusts looked like a hard slog, but on the night Baker & McKenzie galloped away with the title of Offshore Incorporations Tax & Trusts Law Firm of the year. Baker McKenzie also took one of the night's most prestigious awards - the Macallan International Law Firm of the year. |
An exuberant Charltons win boutique
Smaller is sometimes better, and Charltons' boutique China corporate finance practice beat off a wide range of tightly focused boutique firms such as Kwok and Yih, and Jonathan Rostron Solicitors. |
Now THAT'S Entertainment
Paul Weiss celebrated their win by an impromptu Karaoke rendition of "I Only Have Eyes For You" to MC Sharon Kwok. The Nakamichi Entertainment Firm Award was presented by Joan Wong and was one of two wins for the US-based outfit. |
Martin Lee presents M&A to David Clark
Linklaters claimed the M&A award, showing that even in a tough market, quality shines through. Martin Lee's mental arithmetic kept the crowd laughing through the entire presentation. |
Joy Medd receives a kiss from a delighted Paul Starr
Mallesons powerful construction team were represented by Paul Starr, who had his own construction ditty to entertain the audience. We'll be in touch with him to see if we can get the words to post here. The Wordwave International Construction Award was presented by Joy Medd, MD of the firm that was known in the past to many as Smith Bernal.
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Honorary guest Elsie Leung honoured Pam Baker & Co
Although the passing away of Pam Baker also meant the closure of the highly respected firm, she and her co-workers were aknowledged by both the Pro Bono Award and the Coutts Bank (Schweiz) AG Award for Legal Personality of the year. Christopher Knight picked up both awards on the firm's behalf. |
Chambers Music
Peter Michael, Hong Kong Editor of Asian Legal Business presented John Scott with the award for Chambers of the Year. Des Voeux were well represented on the night, and the win was met with a chorus of cheers.
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Hot Property
JSM's first win of the night was for the Real Estate Award. Presented by Professor Ted Tyler, it was the first of a hat trick for the HK-based legal powerhouse.
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James Tunkey presents the Pinkerton Insurance Award to Barlow Lyde & Gilbert
Andrew Hart collected the Pinkerton Award for Best Insurance firm. Barlow Lyde and Gilbert have long been known for the quality of their insurance practice, and tonight's award helped cement their enviable reputation.
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Capital Gains
Linklaters won the Harbour Plaza Capital Markets Award, and partner David Clark was presented with the award by a beaming Deputy GM, Stephen H Chu.
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Wordwave International Award for Commercial Litigation.
In a tough economy, litigation is a boom industry, and Herbert Smith have been making hay in tough times. Gareth Thomas accepted the trophy from Vicky Harris, WordWave International's Business Development Director. Herbert Smith dedicated their win to the memory of Dan Miller who was killed in the recent Bali bomb blast.
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King & Wood collect VDB PRC Law Firm Award
Zhao Bing collected the trophy from Bobby Wu, General Manager of VDB. Although Zhao Bing had travelled down from Shenzhen for the night, he confirmed that the award would be winging its way to the King and Wood Beijing office to take pride of place in the reception there. |
City Slickers
The Ronald Abram Jewellers Award for Best City Firm was won by British legal giants Clifford Chance. Ronald Abram, the jeweller's MD presented the award to Amy Ho.
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Best Western Rosedale Award for Best North American Law Firm.
US firms are making more and more inroads into Asia, so the competition for this particular title was no easy one. On the night, however, Sidley Austin Brown & Wood's Ken Cote accepted the award from Best Western Rosedale's Resident Manager, Lenny Wong. |
Deacons take IP
Steven Vickers, MD of International Risk is well known for his investigation and other legal support in the region, so it was no surprise that it was him handing out the IP Award to Deacons' Grace Gong. |
Margaret Ng presents In House Award
Legco Member Margaret Ng took time out from her busy schedule to award Morgan Stanley's In-House Team. Susan Simpson accepted the award that recognises those who are often overlooked when recognising legal talent.
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Coutts Bank (Schweiz) AG Award for Legal Personality
Pam Baker was recognised posthumously at the awards for all her and her colleagues tireless work on behalf of the unprivileged. Christopher Knight collected on her behalf from Esther M Heer-Zacek, Head of Private Banking at Coutts Bank
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Simmons on stage
The Simmons & Simmons employment team has gone from strength to strength, and this year's employment award is proof of just how well respected they are. Fiona Loughrey collected the award on behalf of the firm from Fernando Suarez, GM for China of British Airways.
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Clifford Chance get Project Finance
CC got their second award of the night from Douglas Arner from the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong. Amy Ho was there to collect the prestigious award.
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Shipping Firm of the year
Ince and Co walked away with the Shipping Firm of the Year Award, beating off strong competition from their peers. Charles Booth, Associate Professor and Director at HKU presented the trophy to Simon Latham.
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Nokia IT/Telecomms Award
Paul Weiss Rifkind and Garrison were delighted to get their first award of the night from Jimmy Yu, Nokia's Senior Manager of Marketing and Mobile Services. Jeanette Chan and Michael Reede both came up on stage to accept.
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Criminal Behaviour
It was no suprise that Robertsons and Haldanes were ahead of the pack when looking for the best criminal firm, but on the night Jonathan Midgley and Haldanes won the Jimmy's Kitchen Award for Best Criminal Firm. Grand Baird the Group Director of Operations for the popular Epicurean restaurant group was there to present the award.
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Grant Thornton Insolvency Award
Ian Chapman from JSM's insolvency practice accepted another trophy for the HK firm from Grant Thornton's Director and Head of Restructuring, Alan Tang.
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Banking on Success
Allen and Overy's first award of the night was the Pacific Cigar Award for Banking Firm of the Year. Mitch Silk represented the firm, while Dag Holmboe, CEO of Pacific Cigar was on stage to present the trophy. Pacific Cigar also provided a complementary cigar salon at which guests could try a number of the cigars offered by the firm.
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New Kids on the Block
Recognising the person at the helm of the law firm, the MontBlanc Award for Managing Partner of the year had a number of highly popular finalists. A highly partisan crowd roared with the name of each finalist, but on the night David Stannard from Norton Rose seemed to have swayed the judges with the firm's high-profile re-entry to the HK market after an enforced three year absence. Samuel Wong, VP of MontBlanc China presented the award.
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On Top of the World
The award that recognised achieving (or getting close to!) total global domination was the Macallan Award for International Law Firm of the Year. A number of giants slugged it out to win this prestigeous award, but there could only be one winner, and on the night David Fleming of Baker & McKenzie was the person going to collect the trophy from Earnest Leung, the Marketing Manager from Macallan. Macallan provided a steady stream of their well-known premium scotch throughout the evening, helping many of us there to only dimly remember events.
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More Winners!
Every guest at the awards event was given a free upgrade on British Airways for their next HK - London return flight, along with the chance to win return tickets to Melbourne, courtesy of leading Australian property developer Central Equity. The lucky draw resulted in a win for Chi Nguyen of Charltons.
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An anonymous lawyer from MoFo gets down while smoking one of Pacific Cigar's offerings
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Live latin music from the Cuban band kept the party going until late.
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