| Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer | Standout | Tesco’s successful challenge to the UK Competition Commission | 8 | 6 | 8 | 22 | As an integral part of the Tesco team, Freshfields’ legal strategy to make a Competition Commission remedy the subject of the judicial review was novel and should ensure that future remedies have a better consideration of benefits and costs |
|---|
| Clifford Chance | Standout | Using the law to push the frontiers of science | 6 | 7 | 8 | 21 | The firm successfully lobbied the government to permit the go-ahead for hybrid embryo research. The firm’s James Lawford Davies is the world leading expert in this field |
|---|
| Hickman & Rose | Standout | Pursuing justice for victims of war crimes | 7 | 8 | 6 | 21 | The firm works to pursue war criminals through a mixture of lobbying, battling governments and testing the limits of the law on universal jurisdiction |
|---|
| Allen & Overy | Highly commended | Getting the US to amend cross-border transaction rules | 7 | 6 | 7 | 20 | The merger of SAP and BusinessObjects, a French incorporated but partly US-owned company, threw up conflicting regulatory hurdles. The firm devised a solution to facilitate cross-border tender offers |
|---|
| Pinsent Masons | Highly commended | The 2012 London Olympics | 6 | 7 | 7 | 20 | A leading force in managing this project for the Olympic Delivery Authority, the firm’s innovations include a new form of slot-in / slot-out planning permission and successful sustainability monitoring |
|---|
| Hickman & Rose | Commended | Using a holistic approach to curtail police powers and preserve civil liberties | 6 | 7 | 6 | 19 | The firm combines knowledge of criminal, human rights, data protection and public law to ensure that police investigations are carried out in a fair, proportionate and lawful manner |
|---|
| Linklaters | Commended | Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication - SWIFT data privacy investigation | 7 | 6 | 6 | 19 | When, in the post 9 / 11 fight against terrorism,the US Treasury subpoenaed SWIFT to disclose bank messaging information, it was investigated by the Belgian Privacy Commission. Linklaters argued that, as 'de facto delegate', it has limited data protection obligations compared to banks themselves |
|---|
| Olswang | Commended | Cutting the costs of film financings | 6 | 7 | 6 | 19 | The firm created a new streamlined transparent approach to film financing, making transactions quicker and easier |
|---|
| Eversheds | Commended | Using legal brinksmanship to avert strikes in the higher education sector | 6 | 7 | 5 | 18 | Eversheds masterminded a rapid, sustained and fully co-ordinated response to an aggressive threat of strike action in the higher education sector |
|---|
| Greenberg Traurig Amsterdam | Commended | Assisting a US drug development company in the biodefense area | 7 | 6 | 5 | 18 | The firm adopted a legal approach to EU SME benefits which resulted in large savings and allowed access to valuable regulatory guidance by the European Medicines Agency |
|---|
| LG | Commended | The new Bahamas Executive Foundations Act | 6 | 6 | 5 | 17 | LG developed and proposed the concept of the 'Executive Foundation' to the Bahamas Financial Services Commission, which is replicable for other offshore jurisdictions |
|---|
| Nörr Stiefenhofer Lutz | Commended | Facilitating inward investment into the German film industry | 5 | 6 | 6 | 17 | The firm was involved in Germany's new incentivised system of film financing - which has proved to be a major success and a boost to the film industry |
|---|
| Slaughter and May | Commended | Advising Bertelsmann on its successful joint appeal with Sony Corporation of America to the European Court Of Justice | 5 | 6 | 6 | 17 | Slaughter and May represented music giant Bertelsmann on its successful joint appeal with Sony to the ECJ to overturn the annulment of the European Commission's merger clearance |
|---|
| Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii | Commended | Creating Romania's first memorandum of understanding to facilitate the country's largest foreign direct investment | 7 | 5 | 5 | 17 | The firm acted for Austrian voestalpine AG on the complex project financing of an integrated iron and steel mill in the Black Sea. The project has made the government aware of the need for legislative change in the future, but the impact has been limited due to the credit crisis |
|---|
| Allen & Overy | Commended | Facilitating the creation of a new online bank in Spain | 5 | 6 | 5 | 16 | To firm created a new structure to get round Spanish legislation that did not provide for the universal transfer of assets and liabilities of a single branch |
|---|
| Hergüner Bilgen Ozeke | Commended | Privatisation of Tekel's tobacco business | 5 | 5 | 6 | 16 | The firm had to co-ordinate in one day the transfer of assets and complex financing in the transfer of Tekel from state ownership to BAT, which marked a coming of age for Turkish law firms |
|---|
| Portolano Colella Cavallo | Commended | First registration of a colour trademark | 6 | 6 | 4 | 16 | The firm outlined a strategy for a prominent multinational corporation for registering and protecting a colour as a trademark at EU and national level in spite of the turbulent commercial and financial environment. |
|---|
| Slaughter and May | Commended | Resolution Limited - Initial Public Offering of its Shares | 6 | 5 | 5 | 16 | The firm acted for Resolution on this IPO in which the Guernsey incorporated company outsourced majority of its operating functions enabling it to achieve secondary listing as an overseas company |
|---|
| Wragge & Co | Commended | Dolland & Aitchison and Boots Opticians merger - pension solution | 6 | 5 | 5 | 16 | An innovative pensions solution involving creation of a customised package of security and income streams |
|---|
| Download this view as a PDF Output this view to Excel |
SPECIAL REPORTS 