Last night's ALB Australasian Law Awards, backed by event partner Macquarie Bank, proved to be a stirring celebration of the achievements of a challenging 2009 and an indication of more prosperous times to come. 

The mammoth US$15bn Rio Tinto capital raising (Allens, Freehills, Linklaters) was voted as ALB’s Australian Deal of the Year, while the landmark Fisher & Paykel recapitalisation won the NZ Deal of the Year.

Rio Tinto was a recurring theme of the night, with AAR’s Nick Tole picking up the much coveted Australian Dealmaker of the Year, no doubt off the back of the many transactions he has advised upon for that client. New Zealand Dealmaker of the Year was Russell McVeagh’s Pip Greenwood. This continues Russell McVeagh’s dominance of this category at the ALB Awards in recent years.

Will Irving and his team at Telstra picked up the Australian In-house Team of the Year. ANZ Bank’s Deborah Marris was the In-house Lawyer of the Year, while her colleagues across the Tasman at the ANZ National Bank won NZ In-house Legal Team of the Year.

Freehills’ Gavin Bell won managing partner of the year and Mallesons, collecting their usual strong haul of awards, must have been particularly pleased to pick up the award for CSR Firm of the Year and the Innovative Use of Technology Award. DLA Phillips Fox also deserves commendation for winning both Corporation Citizen of the Year and Insurance Specialist Firm of the Year.

By the end of the night, the leading top-tier triumvirate of Allens, Freehills and Mallesons had in fact all collected an equal number of trophies -  six.

ALB would like to congratulate all of the winners and to sincerely thank all who attended the 2010 ALB Australasian Law Awards as well as those who spent precious time preparing nominations and submissions.

A full list of winners can be found on the ALB Law Awards website at www.albawards.com